Sleep Is Not My Friend
by AliceUnderSkies13
Summary: The sky is black. The stars are black, too. This city sucks, and I am just confused. I can't love VY2, I can't even like him. For two reasons, one: I hate him, and two: he's an AI and I'm a human. And did I mention my hacker friends and I are trying to destroy him? RinxYuuma, RinxLen.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, I've been stuck on Left-Handed Singer (sorry guys ^^"), and I really have been itching to write a cyberpunk Vocaloid story. Hope you like it. Reviewers get free hugs!**

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The sky overhead is black. I look up; the stars are black too. You cannot see anything but the dark void of a midnight sky, the color of a computer screen when it sleeps, but not all computers sleep, not HIM, the one who watches me constantly. I can feel his eyes on me now, even as I sit here in this alley, alone with nothing but a Mountain Dew in my hand. It is not all black though, the vending machine beside me pulses with a faint green glow. It casts a pool of light on the asphalt beneath it, creating a fluorescent eye. The eye blinks as a shadow passes over.

"What are you doing down here kid?"

I ignore the voice and take a sip of my much deserved Mountain Dew. Very much deserved, I think to myself as I drink. I have worked hard tonight. Harder than ever, to quote Kiyoteru, the leader of the hacking group I work for. I smile when I think this and turn to address the voice.

"Lovely night, isn't it? And to answer your question, I am taking a break."

"A break?" Funny, the voice seems genuinely surprised. Of course it would be, no one around here takes breaks, not ever. Because there is nothing to take a break from. We wake up, go to work maybe even school, come home, turn on the computer and wait. We wait for nothing, at least that's how I see it. My brother says we wait to see that amazing, brilliant, unlike-anything-you've-ever-seen entity that is VY2. My mother says we wait to see the face of the beloved leader that is VY2, and others say we wait to hear the voice of our god that is VY2. Here's what I say we wait for: an overrated piece of machinery composed of manmade gears and software, a hope for the utterly hopeless, a prophet for the ignorant. I hate him. I, Rin Kagamine, hate that supercomputer's guts. And he knows it, that's what's so strange. Something about me though, it draws him to me. Certainly not my unbelievably rapturous looks, because I have none. Straight blonde hair as bland and as ugly as the smog filled sky above me, which is not very flattering, especially against skin the color of a white box. Then there are my eyes. In the light they are a bright blue, strong but soft, but at night they come alive, turning into staggering, electric balls of energy. Kiyoteru tells me that I'm like a cat, one of those stray cats that creeps about the alleyways and chews on the exposed wires coming out the side of your house. I like that comparison, it suits me. That's why my name on the LiveWire is KittyBlue.

Blue for my eyes, the only extraordinary thing about my appearance. It must be their shocking color and catlike pupils that get VY2's attention. I've been silent for too long, because the voice is now yelling at me to stop screwing around and leave. I ignore it and turn my Mountain Dew in my hands. Little beads of condensation have formed at its lip and it begins to sweat like an adolescent who's had their face pressed up to a computer screen for too long. I go to take another sip; it's empty. The smell is still there though. It's sticky and sweet, but also sharp with a hint of carbonated water. So wonderful. That irritating voice interrupts my train of thought again, slashing it to pieces.

"Are you deaf? I said leave!" It sounds angry, I should probably go. Wordlessly and with the empty Mountain Dew can in hand, I get up. Behind me lies warm, sultry darkness that goes on forever through the city, winding around buildings and seeping down through the manholes. Before me is the disembodied voice and the street that is flooded in neon light. I walk towards the voice. A beam from one of the streetlights shows me that the voice belongs to a man with short hair and a shiny prosthetic eye. My pupils slide across my eyes as I pass. I look at his front; he is holding a machine gun, but there isn't any sort of badge pinned to his jacket. Inside my brain I heave a sigh.

He isn't a cop, just some wannabe volunteer. There are more of them now than ever, civilians who have nothing to lose and nothing to gain. It is a despicable job, being a law enforcement volunteer. You have no other option, it says, you are too stupid, too unimportant, too disfigured to hold any real position, so just become a mercenary and then give yourself a fancy name like law enforcement volunteer to cheer yourself up. Or maybe you're a volunteer because that's what you were hired to be this weekend, next Saturday you might be paid to kill the owner of The Boilerplate Software Superstore, or maybe you'll be given ten whole dollars to take out an annoying kid hacker. Whatever the reason, being a volunteer sucks, always. This particular volunteer doesn't even glance at me. So I shuffle past, taking a mental snapshot of his metal eye; it's unlike anything I've ever seen before.

Out in the street it is much brighter. The sky seems a million miles away, the city is stuck inside a massive hole and I am looking up from the center of the earth. Buildings are everywhere. They explode out of the concrete and asphalt and dot the city like clumps of wildflowers. Some are made out of glass, others are steel. All of them are covered in neon signs that stare at you. Thousands of beams, light bulbs, and fluorescents cross paths in the hot night air. Everything is on fire. Some clockwork tower chimes in the distance, its voice echoing across the empty city. The metal cogs spin on their toes, the sound of silence resounding in my ears. When I look at the sky the stars are still black.

I walk with one hand in my pocket, the other holding my Mountain Dew. My boots squeak each time I take a step; it must have rained earlier. These shoes are new too. Blue just like my eyes, and they come up to my knee and there are six silver buckles all up and down their front. Every time they hit the ground, the fiber optics glow softly. In one of those uppity boutiques these babies would have cost me a fortune. I would have had to work nonstop for days, taking on a million jobs just to save up the money. But I didn't have to do but one job to get these; some ex-corporate hacker who was too intelligent for his own good found himself in a jam a few months ago. Missing files, accusations of being a sick leech, it wasn't an ideal situation for anyone to be in. I hacked his old employer's system, falsified an insane amount of data, and somehow managed to get him out without a scratch. He had been lucky, most people never get out, and if they do it's with an arm or a leg missing. Or, like the man in the alley, they would have one less eye. So in a hysterical fit of gratitude the hacker had given me my amazing pair of kicks, unlike anything I've ever owned. Kiyoteru had applauded me for a job well done.

Kiyoteru, Kiyoteru. Unlike the others he is probably still awake, working on one of his new projects. I am in no hurry though, my break still isn't over. For the past few weeks, my hacking company has been preparing for a break in. I've been up almost every night, going through files and cracking simple security codes. But it's time for a break, not that going to the surface is relaxing or anything. Underground, where I live with my friends, that's the only place where a hacker like me can truly relax.

My feet quietly slap the sidewalk. There is almost no one out tonight. A few homeless amputees are huddled together in the shadows, their metal limbs glinting every time they lean back into the light. I swear that one of them has a prosthetic face. A little girl is kicking a Diet Coke can a little ways off from me. Her right cheek and hand are fake. She spots me. "Can I have that?" Her little metal finger is pointing to my Mountain Dew.

Mid-toss I ask her, "Is everyone inside listening to VY2?" She nods after she catches the tin can.

"That's why it's so empty." She examines the can carefully. A faint smile appears on her scarred face. "So smooth, it's not even dented. Thanks."

"Thanks for the information." I give her a brisk wave and then continue on my way. It doesn't matter that everyone else is inside; VY2 knows I'm not and that really bothers him, I can tell.

The emptiness in the streets is nice. The air flows easier. Clouds of poisonous gray smog still hover around the buildings though, but no matter. Underground the air is much cleaner, even if it is filled with the stench of rot and decay, sweat and smoke. But then there's the singed smell of the hardware running, always running. It's wonderful, a burnt plastic smell mixed with charcoal. Up here, in the midlevel streets, there is only the cold acid rain and heaps of garbage. There are no cars, so I walk out into the road. The white lines that are painted on the black asphalt end at a stoplight. I stand and look up at it. The color yellow is blinking on and off. Droplets of water drip down its face and over the hooded green eye beneath it. A few wires are exposed, dangling under the light like an amassed coiling of snakes. When the water trickles over them, they hiss dangerously. There are no cars in this district, so I walk on, the stoplight sizzling overhead. But something catches my eye, the street sign hanging under the light is creaking softly in the electric breeze. I read the name: Snivitz Street. My eyes widen. It's here, maybe somewhere around the corner. I turn around and sprint down the darkened street.

Fewer lights are here. A few decrepit looking telephone poles with massive lamp-heads are around, but that's it. Telephone poles, this place is practically primitive. Snivitz stretches across the midlevel, cutting it straight in half. You're either born on the right side of the street, or the left, but nobody actually lives on the road itself, not officially, anyways. Some people, like the amputees, colonize the many empty buildings. If you go to some of the old houses with the basements you might even see one of the Frankensteins. That's what you're called when you consist of more metal than real flesh. They are warped bodies, tormented faces, twisted appendages of gnarled and melted steel. Cyber criminals who get caught by the police or by one of the big puppet corporations, like Green Lightning, are either thrown in jail or get one of their limbs sawed off, but they still get to live. The ones who get behind the mask and infiltrate the megacorporation become half human, half machine abominations. Organs are ripped out and replaced by metal counterfeits. Probably a lot of pain and blood and screaming involved. There are some in the underground who claim to have actually been to the giant, sprawling network of buildings and seen the place where the Frankensteins are made. Len, another member of my hacking group, swears that he made it into the basement once. There he saw dozens of deep trenches that were brimming with dismembered body parts, or so he says. Kiyoteru says he's a liar, but I don't know, it sounds pretty real to me.

I've only seen one Frankenstein. Lost one night deep in the subterranean tunnels, I came across a half dead creature wallowing around in the ink pools. It was only when I looked twice that I realized it was a person; I still don't know if it was a man or a woman. Whatever it was it didn't matter, it barely looked human. Massive screws for eyes that turned slowly, one clockwise the other one counter. And hook hands, the left looked like a pair of pliers. I could hear the grate of the machines inside it, a mixture of blood and oil poured out from a hole in its neck, wires grew out of its scalp like a dozen writhing snakes, and then there was the mouth that hung wide open, oozing with blood and flecks of steel. I had dashed out of there the instant I saw the thing, but I remember what it looked like.

I hope I never get turned into one. I think I'd kill myself before I ever let that ever happened.

So I push the image of the Frankenstein out of my mind and run down the street. A police siren goes off in the distance, but I ignore it. I see it now. Three stories made of nothing but glass, a pair of huge double doors in the front. Looks just like an abandoned memory card warehouse. The protective glass blocks UV rays but lets in what little sunlight there is; sunlight's good for the solar-powered cards, naturally. But no wonder it went out of business, selling solar-powered memory cards in a city with no sun, a stupid mistake. The company who owned this building was a newbie in the corporate world. Some company called Baidu. I've done my homework. Me, Kiyoteru, Len and Gumi have been researching this place for about a week now. When the job came in we were skeptical at first. Steal one of those useless memory cards, that's all we have to do? And the reward? One of those really nice dual processor computers with a powerful lithium battery that lasts up to five hundred hours. The one we have now sucks, literally. It sucks all the electricity out of the outlet. And since the power grid in the underground is just as suckish as our computer, we end up shorting out the system in a matter of two hours. Then people get angry and rush over screaming like maniacs, telling us that we'd better stop hogging all the energy or they'll tear us limb from limb.

If I can snag the memory card now that'd save us a lot of time. I'm almost to the double doors and now it's raining. Even though the sky is thousand miles up I can see forks of lightning shooting through the thunderheads. Brushing my now soaked bangs out of my face; I stop at the doors and tug at the handles. Both of them are locked. This job would be too easy if they weren't, but this warehouse is abandoned and unguarded so there's bound to be an open door somewhere. I run around to the back of the building, my boots slipping in the grass. I almost fall as I make a hairpin turn around a sharp corner, sliding with one hand against the wet earth.

A door appears in my vision as I finish sliding; my legs coil and then I leap through the threshold, closing it behind me. It becomes black as the door slams. My eyes light up in the darkness. Crouching low to the ground, my boots light a path that cuts through the inky blackness. Suddenly, a sound pricks my eardrums. I duck behind a cardboard box, frozen, waiting. That noise comes again, a dull pulsing, maybe footsteps. My leather pants are tucked into my boots, but I manage to pull up the right leg and retrieve a long silver switch blade from my shoe. With my finger I prod the blade so that it gives off a subtle glow. Now I can see that I'm in a supply closest; I decide to eyeball search the place. Just like searching for something in a giant chunk of data, looking for one specific line in this mass of code. There's a rolling metal shelf next to me, crisscrossing wires supporting dozens of empty boxes and manila folders. Still in a crouching position, I head over to another door and carefully turn the knob.

The door is open just enough so that I can get my fist through, so I do. Suddenly, someone yanks on my hand and pulls me out from the closet. Great…this is just great.


	2. Chapter 2

I smack my head into the side of the door. I thought this place was empty? Nobody outside, nobody inside, but apparently there is. How could I not see them, this place is made of glass? Whoever it is behind the door throws me against a railing. I grip it but the momentum is too much, I flip over. As I do, I kick my legs out at something. My hands help me control my fall and I twist into a messy backflip, landing in a perfect crouch. The knife is gone. Pieces of blonde hair fly into my face as I whip around.

A human form is visible through the railing. I give it a roundhouse kick. Whoever it is falls to the concrete floor. Suddenly there are a million different voices screaming. There's more than one person here. Adrenaline leaves my body and now I realize that I've walked into a trap. At least ten people are all around me. I stand speechless, breathing hard with sweat beading on my forehead. It was a woman who I kicked to the ground. No wonder it had been so easy to knock her down, she's deathly skinny. She sits up, looking kind of dazed. Her face is one of those ridiculous heart shapes, her eyes a bloody crimson. She has red hair pulled up into a ponytail.

Now I am surrounded. I look around at the people circling me like vultures. Two behind me, three on the left, three on the right, two in front. There's a moment of silence as the redhead gets shakily to her feet, but I'm not going to sit around and wait for this stranger who's trying to harm me, so I take off. Like a wildcat, I jump back and hit one guy with a left hook. My foot has to bend awkwardly but I get him right in the stomach. I am flying across the battlefield. When I land my legs shake. Turn to the right, another man, I don't stand a chance. The element of surprise only works once. Turn around and run, but a pillar's in my way. Of course. I have to do a stupid spin to evade the man's fist, and then slide behind the pillar. Breathing heavily, I take the time to survey my surroundings. I'm in a square-shaped room; an elevated walkway surrounds it, as does a metal railing. A bunch of boxes, shattered glass, and ancient hardware cover the floor. The glass ceiling is vaulted. No vertical way of getting out, but the double doors, that's a good exit.

Three people are coming at me now. One grabs me; I see he has my knife in his hand. Can't give up, the other two aren't here yet, but they're close. I do the only thing I can think of, bite the guy's nose.

And I own that nose.

He yelps, I taste blood and now I'm running, heading towards the door. It comes closer. My feet tangle as I almost trip on something. Wow, the irony is ridiculous; it's one of those sucky memory cards. My fingers quickly snatch it up and then I wrench the double doors open with both hands. Outside the rain is flying, it goes sideways and slaps my face. The doors won't stay open once I let go, so I push them as far apart as I can. My fingertips strain under the pressure.

Giant raindrops the size of a computer mouse pummel my face like bullets. Just a few more inches, I can do it. Sudden pain erupts in my right shoulder. I scream. My body reacts too quickly, I fall through the doors. One of the men chasing me also falls through them, but they close on his body and now it looks like somebody dropped a grocery bag full of tomato soup. His torso separates at the spine and falls into the grass with a thud. I am staring, wide-eyed, un-blinking. Man cut in half, cut right in half. Something's dripping down my face. It's blood, his blood. A funny sound between a yelp and a squeak escapes my mouth. Suddenly, a deafening screech pierces my eardrums as the double doors start to open. Oh yeah, there's still people on the other side. People who apparently want to kill me. I get up and run, slipping and sliding all over the place.

I'm at least three hundred feet away from the warehouse now, running across a vacant parking lot. The rain is merciless, but I think I'm sweating. Even though I'm pretty sure I'm in shape, I still have a stitch inside. I lean my hands on my thighs and wait to catch my breath. It's impossible, so I sit down. Parking lots are good places to rest. There's a vending machine in one of the empty spaces. It's not plugged in of course, but somehow it still shines like a pale green star. No cars here either. I'm on Snivitz Street what do I expect?

Now that I'm sitting down and the adrenaline has passed, the pain from before comes back. It's in my shoulder. Reaching up behind my back, I feel it sticking straight out of my shoulder-blade, my knife. Impaled upon my own sword quite literally. I hold my breath and yank it out. The air slips slowly through my teeth. Blood comes gushing out; I can feel it dripping down my back. The rain washes the knife clean. For a few moments I stare at its silver surface, wondering what the glimmer of starlight would look like on its blade.

My ears perk up. Voices are shouting somewhere behind me. I recognize one of the men.

Oh come on! I should have guessed they would get that door open. My legs scramble and now I'm up and running yet again, probably for the hundredth time this night. Warm blood is spilling down my back. I see shadowy figures coming out of the storm and pump my legs harder. The body works like a machine, my body is more than that. It's like a robot's, and a robot is not a machine, it is a person. It can feel and think and run, run faster than any human. I shut my eyes and run like a robot.

My eyes open and see a Kawasaki motorcycle. It's leaning on its kickstand; I can barely see it through the sheets of rain. Massive drops strike it's metal skin. I come to a halt in front of it and go to work. Hotwiring a motorcycle isn't too difficult, not for a person who's been handling miniscule wires and stealing bikes for most of her life.

Once, the process is complete, I swing my legs over, grab the clutch and the brake and pray that it works. The engine revs and springs to life. Heat rises from within, making my legs warm. I feel adrenaline flowing through my veins. This my last resort, all other plans are dashed against the broken glass of the warehouse. The headlights blink on, a scream rips through my throat, and I speed off. There's the entrance to the parking lot. There's also one of the men, just standing there. Like I'm not going to hit him if he doesn't move, yeah right. He doesn't move, and that's exactly what I do, slam right into him. Stupid idea, I think as the bike crashes into him and I fly off. The back wheel throws me up. The man's body is somewhere in front of me, I don't know. The world is spinning, my eyes rolling around in their sockets. I'm flying now, my arms spread wide, I look down and see the front of the bike; it's red with blood. I do a somersault in midair and fall towards the ground.

It seems like a never-ending fall, but the ground shouldn't be that far under me. I'm bracing for an impact that might not ever come. Wind rushing by, sheets of rain drenching my body, and scarlet drops, so many scarlet drops floating around me. Then splash! I'm in ten feet of water, if you could call it water at all. Bubbling froths of foam swirl around me. It smells like acid and old ink cartridges. Cough, then another cough as I struggle to stay afloat. My arms flail. The thick liquid is hard to push through. My throat muscles realign themselves, trying to inhale any amount of oxygen, but instead of air I get a mouthful of slime. Gagging, I feel my stomach lurch; I need to get out of here. Reaching out with my left hand, I feel a concrete ledge. Pieces of the ledge crumble when I grab hold, but I manage to lift myself up. The concrete is cold against my back. I'm so lucky there was a canal here, if I had landed on asphalt I'd be nothing but bloody road pizza. Brushing strands of slime covered hair from my forehead, I heave a sigh.

So I'm lying here in the rain, breathing like I've just run a marathon, my body blanketed in a layer of muck. The blood is flowing fast from my shoulder. Droplets of water are in my eyes. I blink. Blink, the stars are still black, so is the sky, just like a sleeping computer screen. Little flashes of color start popping up in my vision. The flashes are red. Funny, the lights on the side of the Connection Machine are red too. It just came out, a 65,536-processor parallel computer, looks like a black cube. I want one, maybe I'll get one after I finish this job. More little red lights twinkling, on and off, on and off again. Now I'm seeing blue dots too. Blue like my eyes. My electric blue eyes fade; someone turned off a switch inside my brain. Speaking of my brain, it's starting to go fuzzy. Can't really think straight. This sucks. A lot. The sky is so black now, so black. There goes my vision. Guess I'll sleep for a bit, just like a computer.

* * *

Lights return, but this time they're yellow. A kind of muted yellow that seeps beneath your eyelids and feels sticky. I feel as though I am in cyberspace, the lights are so blurry and warm. That reminds me, the solar-powered memory card, I must have dropped it. No, no. Everything was for nothing, wonderful, just wonderful. My mind feels blank, my body heavy. I am a computer that crashed. Once I blink a few times, everything start's coming into focus. There's concrete under me, behind me, and above me too. But it's far above me and it curves. I can hear cars driving over it. I'm under a bridge. Doesn't make any sense, but whatever. I blink a couple more times and run my hands down my face. A violent shake of the head and now I can see clearly. I heave a massive sigh, and then I notice the Kawasaki. It's a few feet in front of me propped up on its kickstand. The dried blood on the front looks black now instead of red. But it's what's behind the bike that catches my attention. A man. At least six-foot three with silver hair. His back is to me, so I can't see his face.

What if he's one of them? He probably brought me here to torture, maybe cut off a hand or two. Kiyoteru will think I'm an idiot.

Then I remember my knife. I'm still somewhat in a daze, so I fumble to get it out of my back pocket. Then I raise it slowly, hold my breath, and now I'm creeping up behind him. My steps are quiet, the blade is getting closer.

I don't make a sound, yet somehow he hears me. In a nanosecond he's upon me, grabbing the switch blade from my hands. I shriek, "No, no! I'm not gonna let you cut off my hand!" Wow, that made him let go of me. He releases me and I almost topple over. Breathing hard, I turn around and kick out with my right leg. His arms rise to protect his torso and my foot rams into his hand. I let out a hiss of pain; his left hand is made of metal. I don't know if I'm imagining it, but it looks like he's in pain too, maybe even more than me. But that look is gone now and I'm standing about five feet away from him, glaring at him. I'm poised like a cat ready to strike. My pulse is slowing, my breathing is too. Funny, he doesn't look that menacing now that I get a closer look at him.

He's tall, that's for sure. His shoulders are so broad; each one a steel beam. Silver hair that brushes his neck and dark red eyes. I feel those bloody irises staring right through me. It appears that he is a fan of leather just like me; his jacket is made out of the material. But it's tattered and stained, dark black stains, just like dried blood.

"Don't even try. I won't let you hurt me," I say shakily.

Wait, did he just smile?

"I'm not going to hurt you." His voice is not what I expected. It's rough, with the slight scratchy vibrato of a heavy smoker, but it is also kind…almost fatherly.

I take the tiniest step forward. "So what do you want?"

A shrug. "Nothing. I found you in the canal. Looked like you needed some help."

"Oh, well thanks, but I could've gotten out of there myself," I reply. Something's up. I eyeball search him, looking for the tiny hint that he's lying. Could be a cop, no he's too shabby. A volunteer, that's it, a homeless mercenary skilled in catching thieves. Thieves like me.

He must sense my trepidation because suddenly he throws my knife at my feet and says, "Kid, I'm not going to hurt you. I've got a daughter about your age."

Nervous laugh and then a sarcastic toss of my head. "Well that makes sense. Every father takes a walk at three in the morning just for fun." Silence. "Not much of a family man, huh?" I sound stupid, trying to insult this man that could be nothing more than a hired killer. But my nerves control my tongue now. Suddenly I hear laughing, he's laughing at me!

"I haven't seen my daughter in five years." He sits on the ground. "Two months ago she would have turned fourteen. Was I right?" He looks expectantly up at me with those dark eyes.

"Uh yeah, I'm fourteen too," I say tentatively. "But I need to get this out of the way, are you a mercenary or not? Because I've met mercenaries with children and they don't have a problem killing kids that aren't theirs. So, you really don't work for anyone?"

"No, I don't."

"And you just happened to be walking down Snivitz Street when I crashed?"

"No," he says firmly. "I live there, on the park bench next to house number 1289."

"Why not just sleep in a house? There's plenty that are empty on Snivitz." I'm letting my guard down. This guy seems ok. If he wanted to kill me he would've done it already. But I won't sit down, not yet.

"I can't. They're all full of amputees and Frankenstein's. And I'm not sharing a room with a Frankenstein. I hear they're pretty messy." He's laughing again, a husky laugh that echoes. And I'm laughing too. It's a weak one, but it's still a laugh.

"So you're just a guy who saved me. Guess I'd better say thanks." I start rocking back and forth on my heels. I'm embarrassed that I freaked out on him, hope he can't tell. But he just nods.

"You're welcome. Now I guess I'll be on my way. You probably have parents who are worried about you." He gets up and starts to walk off, out from the shadow of the bridge and into the hot city lights. Something tugs at my brain as I watch him go. I don't want him to go; it's almost like I'm about to cry. So unlike me, I don't even know the guy. But maybe it was the way he talked to me, like he was explaining something to a child. How he sounded like a father, a real one. Not the man I knew when I was nine, who I haven't seen since then. When I left home I never looked back. So maybe that's why I just can't let this guy go.

"Wait!" I shout. He stops. "I don't have a family either. It's just me, and my friends. And I can't carry this bike back myself. Uh, I'm injured!"

The broad shoulders shake for a moment with laughter and now he's walking back. I notice that he's rubbing the spot where the prosthetic hand connects to his wrist. That's when I notice his prosthetic hand and my eyes widen in curiosity. It is unlike anything I've ever seen. The filler metal looks like a tin-lead alloy, and I'm almost positive that it's soldered together. My eyes widen even more as I get a closer look. Wires erupt from his skin, stretching themselves taut over the bulging muscles in his arms, and then disappearing as they burrow back into his body. They go up a lot farther than I've ever seen.

Usually, people who've lost a hand get simple steel or silver replacements, and the wires connecting the hand to the nervous system are barely visible, only going up a few inches past the wrist. But this guy has wires going up to his elbow; I can see them below the surface of his skin. Are those things in his wrist needles or pins? I can't tell. The place where the hand is connected is red, raw, and scarred. I've seen the product of a sloppy or amateur surgeon, but this looks like it was purposely made this way. The Iron Maiden of prosthetic hands, that's what it looks like, at least to me. Maybe I just haven't seen enough metal limbs; maybe a lot of hands look like this in the world of the amputees. But it scares me, I know that. Great, he's noticed me staring at it. I quickly look away.

"It's fine," he says with a smile. "Not really the prettiest thing to look at, I know. And you kick pretty hard, by the way."

"Did I hurt you?" I ask quietly. I hope he says no, I really hate apologizing. He shakes his head and laughs yet again.

"Don't worry." His voice suddenly lowers. "Doesn't matter, I'm just a failed version anyways."

"Huh?"

He quickly shakes his head. "Nothing,let's go." He grabs the Kawasaki and heads towards the lights.

Well, that was weird. What was he muttering about? Whatever. I shrug and decide to figure out which way to go. I can't use the stars to navigate. I've never been able to do that, considering that you can't even see them. But I recognize the bridge once I walk out from under it. It's the one that leads to the city square. The entrance to the lower level can't be too far.

"Left," I say matter-of-factly.

"Lead the way, uh, you never told me your name," he replies. "Mine's Dell." There's that fatherly voice again.

I hesitate. Should I tell him my name? Well what do I feel? Trust, that's what I feel. I trust this man. "It's Rin."

Dell nods. "Well lead the way, Rin." He grabs my bike. When his left hand touches the brake it twitches. For a split second he winces, but it's gone so fast I can't tell if it was real.

Looking away from Dell, I take a step forward and peer into the darkness. I don't see any shadows or hear any menacing voices, at least, not in the real world. Inside my head, VY2 is laughing softly. He presses against my concious, his invisible elbows resting on my eye sockets. I run my hands down my face and groan. "Go away, I'm in the middle of something."

His laughter continues. "Looks like you made a new friend, Rinny. Or maybe an enemy, or both. Just make sure he isn't competition, ok?"

"Gross!" I exclaim. "He could be my dad, now get outta my head before he hears me talking to myself like a mental patient!"

"Whatever makes you happy, Rinny." He presses further, nonexistant hands against my skull. "Just be careful, ok, Rin? Because you know I love you."

I growl and shake my head furiously. "Come on, Dell!" I say much too loudly. "This way!"

We walk off into the night, VY2's eyes hovering over me, looming behind and beside me. I once heard that the stars are like millions of pairs of eyes glaring at you, with this logic, VY2 might as well be the entire universe.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yes, this chapter is quite long lol, I apologize. Free hugs to those who read the entire thing ^^. Oh, and as the story progresses, VY2 will assume his typical appearance of pink hair and gold-ish eyes. He's just trying to please Rin in this chapter lol. So, enjoy!**

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After looking out from under the bridge and affirming that no one is waiting to ambush us, we head off towards the left. It is so dark. My eyes glow like headlights. We walk slowly through low lit alleys and empty streets. We have to stay around the rim of the midlevel; the entrance to the low-level city is on the edge. It's a maze back here, a giant twisting labyrinth filled with garbage cans, discarded electrical equipment, corroded wires, broken bottles and vials of toxic chemicals. I step in a puddle of what smells like bromine. Yelping, I immediately jump away from the steaming red liquid, panting and trying to shake the chemical from my boot. This makes Dell laugh.

Cats run past occasionally. They stare at me. Probably think I'm one of them with my bright eyes. Every time we pass through an alley, I can see the main street. A lot of people are out now. Four thirty in the morning, I can see a neon clock in the distance. The midlevel city is circular, so we have to walk on a curved road most of the way. Then I see the orange fluorescents that illuminate the entrance to the underground. Moths swarm around them, flying straight at the lights and frying themselves. Their bodies litter the concrete below. Darkness creeps up from the tunnels and pokes its head out of the gaping entrance. Like some wild animal sitting back on its haunches, it crouches with its head grazing the ceiling. The fluorescents are big, illustrious eyes that glint. The eyes flicker when a suicidal moth strikes one of them.

The entrance grows wider as we approach. So dark. I'm looking down an empty well. There's a ceiling overhead that juts out from the concrete wall on either side so that we're in what looks like a partly finished tunnel. Grass is all around; we're in a desolate part of the city. No one from the midlevel ever goes to the low-level, so it's all harsh and unkempt here. Tangled vines burst from the concrete wall. Weeds and thorns dangle from the ceiling like little electric cables. Flowers do not grow here. And the worst part is that the weeds and thorns and vines are all mutated. Chemicals flood the waterways and seep deep into the ground; the plants suck all of it up and start sprouting all kinds of deformities. Extra mutated leaves, stems that leak with poisonous fluid, weird boils and bumps that explode when touched, the list is endless. They're a disgusting sight.

"I've lived in this city my whole life, and I've never seen this place," Dell says. He's staring at one of those mutant weeds.

"That's 'cause you've never been to the underground. You're gonna freak out when you see it. And watch your step." I just saw a suspicious looking puddle.

Just a few more feet and here we are, right in front of the entrance. A staircase leads us down into the darkness of the low-level. I heave a sigh as I walk into the blackness. Feels wonderful, to be back in the dark. My eyes light up. It's hard to see, so I take out my knife and shine its light ahead of us. The ceiling is low and slanted. Imagine that a building is buried in the ground, that is what the underground is like. The staircase winds like one in an apartment building, except it is dark and cramped. Only two people at a time can walk next to each other. Dell questions me on our way down.

"So you live here?"

"Yeah, down in the city."

"How much farther?" he asks. We're progressing slowly; it's difficult to move the Kawasaki down the stairs. I can't see it, but I can hear it. Klunk, klunk, klunk. Hmm, maybe I could ride it down instead. I smile, what a stupid idea.

I am about to say "only two more flights" when something crashes into me. It presses me up against the wall, jamming my bones together and squashing my face against the damp concrete. A handlebar digs into my side. It's the motorcycle. This thing must weigh five hundred pounds. For a moment I'm pinned, half standing half crouching. Then frantic hands lift the bike off me.

"Are you okay? Rin, are you okay?" Yep, that's Dell's panicked voice. He must have dropped the Kawasaki. The massive arms pick me up and actually lift me into the air. Then they set me down on the step. He's really strong even though he's old. I keep hearing him mutter "I'm sorry" over and over again. A laugh, that'll show him I'm okay. So I laugh and he sighs. He must be overcome with relief because I hear him lean against the wall.

"I really am sorry," he says, "Just lost my grip, that's all."

"You don't have to be sorry. I'm fine. But you sound like you're about to keel over." I walk across the step with my knife light facing towards him. There's his chest, rising and falling fast, like he can't catch his breath. And there's his prosthetic hand, that's what I want to see. I grab it and he immediately tears it away. The momentum almost knocks me over.

"Stop it! That hurts!" He sounds almost childish. Like one of those little brats who whines when you dab alcohol on their cut knee. We stare angrily at each other for a second. I can't even see his eyes, they're so dark.

"How old are you, five?" I snap. "I just want to look at your hand. You lost your grip on the motorcycle, yeah right. I know that I hurt you when I kicked your stupid prosthetic hand!" I'm standing with my hands on my hips, my eyes glowing with anger. There's nothing but silence, so I turn away. Wait, he's laughing again! I give him an evil stare, maybe that'll shut him up, but it doesn't.

"Sorry for yelling at you. It's just, you look just like my daughter," he tells me quietly. His voice lowers. "I should have never left her and her mother alone."

I'm in total shock. Did he mean to say that last part? I really hope he isn't crying. I can't stand it when other people cry, especially adults. So awkward. I look anywhere but his face. Wait a moment or two, it's quiet. So glad he didn't go to pieces. But now I realize that a few seconds ago I was screaming at him. Great, now I feel bad for telling him off.

"Oh," is all I say. Wow, I sound stupid. More silence. I'm going to have to say it, say I'm sorry, but suddenly I see lights below me. They're dancing on the lowest steps, spinning circles of orange and white. City lights. My eyes widen. "It's right there," I exclaim. Crouching down, I can see the tops of the streetlights. "I can see the city!"

Let's just forget everything and go. That's what we do. Dell snaps out of his depressing lapse of nostalgia and now we are racing down the steps. I didn't think I'd be this excited to be home. The stairs end and we're standing at the end of a street. Above there is nothing but darkness. It's always night down here, but the lights are so bright you can't even tell. People who stay under for too long get all time crazy, so it's a good idea to go up to the surface once in a while. I've been up there for hours, and this never-changing city has never looked better. Everything's lit up like a Christmas tree. The pulsating lights of Tag, Plugpoint, and Good Signal are blinding. Blinking and popping, a screen saver of reds, greens, blues, and yellows. All of the shops aglow with their open signs, especially the River Crab Restaurant with the giant pair of neon eyes that sit atop its blue and yellow sign. The blue pupils slide back and forth and scan the busy street below.

At least twenty-five black market shops are down here. Come and get your teleprinters and loudspeakers, mice, cables, Ethernet, optic drives, latest hardware and software, hacking programs and debuggers. The manager of Good Signal even has a chemical computer. Like a dream, that's what this place is. I look up and Dell is smiling.

"Wow, you work at one of these stores?" he asks. He doesn't look at me; his eyes are too busy soaking all of this up.

"Actually, no. I live farther down."

With a wave of my hand he follows. People pass. I know a lot of them. They say things like "Hey, Rinny" or "How's it going, Kagamine?" A few even tell me that Kiyoteru is worried and that I'd better hurry back before he blows a fuse. We pick up the pace.

Down here, the air is surprisingly clean. It's musty and a bit damp smelling, but it lacks the smog and chemical clouds that the midlevel has. The ventilation isn't too great, but it's still pretty cool. It gets colder as we move away from the dense collection of shops. Now the street is lined with townhouses. All of the garages are open. No cars, just a bunch of computer rooms and dens. The emissions from a car would just float up to the ceiling and stay there, so no one drives.

Faces come and go down here; people move along the streets and sit on the black asphalt, talking, just talking. And the people of the residential districts are young. All are thirty at most, but their rugged appearances and seasoned eyes suggest otherwise. Some smoke; others lean haphazardly against the walls and drink, staring ahead at something unknown. The dreams of the city are broken here, everything drawn in the cruel medium of reality. Children, the ones who flee from the rollers and live in fear of VY2, exist with a purpose in the low-level, unlike the thousands of surface dwellers who know nothing and accept total ignorance.

But Dell is from the surface, and he's nothing like that. I look back at him, a smile tugging at my lips. We keep walking until we reach the main road, this is where we stop. Not a lot of buildings, eleven to be exact, but these are the most important. Some are the size of a large warehouse, others the size of a small house. Each has its own sign. There's Moscow, Big Iron, 86-DOS, Plan 9, Python, Intel, Rain Dancing, 3D, Encrypted, and Spindling. The eleventh is called Silver Bullet, and that is the hacking company I work for. It's the size of a small apartment, with white walls and floor to ceiling windows in the front. The lights are on; I can see their soft yellow glow through the blinds.

"Well I'll see you around. Here's your bike," Dell suddenly says.

I raise my eyebrows. "You can't leave. You're coming inside."

"But I don't wanna invade your house." He's got this paranoid look on his face, almost looks like he's afraid to come inside. Well he does live on Snivitz Street, and he sleeps on a bench, maybe he just isn't used to meeting new people. No, not that. He probably doesn't like meeting new people. Suddenly I get a strange feeling that he's one of us, a hacker. The antisocial behavior, the weird expression on his face, the fact that he has a prosthetic. It all makes sense. But he's never been down here before. I shake my head. Whatever, there's no point in trying to figure this out now. He looks at me now and runs his hand through his hair.

"You don't even know me," he continues. "What if I'm really some kind of thief?"

"If you're a thief than you're a really sucky one. And it's not even my house. I live here with three other people. Now get inside or I'll tell everyone that you're an undercover cop."

This makes him laugh. "Fine. But I'm not establishing permanent residency here."

"I don't see why not, it's better than a park bench." We walk up to the door and I grab the handle. It's only open a crack, but I can hear the hardware humming like a car engine. Waves of heat hit my face. Push hard on the door and it flings open. Dell has to duck as he walks inside. He pulls the motorcycle along behind him. It leaves a trail of muck and grass.

The front room is filled with file folders and books all stacked up on rolling plastic shelves. A big desk shaped like an uppercase "E" is in the left corner. Papers are scattered everywhere. There are pens, calculators, an old Communicator typewriter, a white box, and a bunch of other ancient bricks that don't work. Then there's our main computer. Me and Kiyoteru built it ourselves. It's an RAM Machine, so it can only understand basic commands, but it has a significant amount of memory and a good central processing unit. We did a pretty decent job. The screen saver is flashing. Lime green ribbons the color of Mountain Dew spin across the screen.

"Hello?" I call as I take off my jacket and drape it across a black rolling chair. "Kiyoteru, I'm back." Silence. I turn to Dell. "Just leave the bike there."

He props the Kawasaki up on its kickstand and we head towards the back. We pass through the front room and now were in a hallway. It's dark here; there are no lights in the corridor. Turn left, here's another room. No lights on except for the blinking of a laptop. Kiyoteru is slumped against the desk, one of his arms hanging over the side. His chest isn't moving, but I know he's alive. "Can you get the light?" I ask Dell.

He reaches up and pulls the chain on the ceiling fan. The light flickers on and Kiyoteru almost jumps out of his seat. His glasses slump to the brim of his nose so that they're hanging sideways off his face. He mutters an incomprehensible phrase and then rubs his eyes.

"I see you're hard at work," I say as I sit down on the desk. He snorts and repositions his glasses. Couple more blinks and now he's looking me in the eye. Both of his are a dull grey. He yawns and rubs his eyes again.

"Where've you been?"

"Just taking a relaxing stroll on the midlevel," I say with smirk. There's the "just-shut-up-and-tell-me-the-story" look. So I tell him how I went down Snivitz Street to the warehouse and then he cuts me off mid-sentence.

"Idiot! We've been planning that break-in for a week, what are we supposed to do now that you've screwed up the entire operation?"

"I didn't screw it up," I reply indignantly.

"Did you get the memory card?"

"No."

"Well then, you screwed it up!" He shakes his head and starts muttering to himself like he always does when he's angry. "Just has to try and do things yourself…so stupid…does this all the time," he stands up and slams his hand on the desk, "I swear, Rin, what am I going to do with you?"

I'm irritated now. My eyes widen and my pupils shrink to cat-like slits. "Would it kill you to listen to me for one second? The only reason I didn't get the memory card is because I was attacked!"

Awkward pause, then, "Attacked?"

"Yeah, by some red-haired chick and her thugs. And she wasn't a roller either." He tries to speak but I wave him off. Leaning back on my wrists, I tell him the story. I'm like a cassette tape going in fast motion. Once I finish, Kiyoteru is shaking his head.

"I don't understand. Len checked every security camera feed; there was no one there. That's weird; we'll have to look into that." He absentmindedly bites the end of a ballpoint pen. "But I'm glad you're ok," he adds with a smile.

I roll my eyes. When I finally turn from Kiyoteru, I see Dell standing there, peeling back the paint on the door frame. Kiyoteru follows my gaze. "Oh, hi," he says quietly. "I didn't know Rin had any other friends."

Haha very funny.

Dell hurries forward, running his good hand through his hair and laughing uncomfortably. "Sorry, I was just bringing her bike down here. I'm not a cop or anything, if that's what you're thinking."

"He's not a thief either," I mutter offhandedly.

"And my name's Dell, if you were wondering."

"I'm Kiyoteru. I'm glad you're not a cop, that's good to know. Interesting prosthetic you got there." He's just noticed Dell's hand. I wanna tell him to stop gawking like an idiot.

But Dell doesn't seem to mind. "Thanks. You lose your left eye?"

I have to duck behind the desk, I'm laughing so hard. He's noticed that Kiyoteru is cross-eyed. Whenever Kiyoteru looks at someone, that left eye sticks in the socket and won't move, almost as if somebody super-glued it that way.

"No, it's just broken. Short circuited years ago," he replies absentmindedly. "I'm not human. Rin didn't tell you she lives with a bunch of robots?"

I pop up just to see Dell's reaction. He's just standing there staring straight ahead. "Um no, I kind of just met her three hours ago." He cocks his head like a child and looks Kiyoteru up and down. "But that's very interesting, I've never met one. Can you feel pain?"

What a weird question to ask.

Kiyoteru opens the mini fridge under his desk and takes out a Coke, a bored expression on his face. "I can't, but some can. It just depends."

"On what?"

A sip of Coke and then a sigh. "On if you're made by an idiot or not."

I've got the feeling Dell's about to ask what's idiotic, making a robot that can feel pain or not? So I jump into the conversation. There's no way I am going to sit here and listen to this for the next hour.

"Yeah, let's end this conversation. I need to say something before I forget."

"Chill out, Rinny," Kiyoteru barks.

"Bite me." There's a moment of tension, our eyes locked in some silent battle, and then he turns away, defeated. A little smile creeps onto my face, I know I've won. "So I want Gumi to check out his hand. Look at it. I've never seen a prosthetic like that."

"I guess you're right. It's a strange model; she'll freak out when she sees this." Those dull grey irises eyeball the strange, metal hand. He's thinking now. I can hear the last few drops of Coke swirling around in the can as he spins it around. "You want to stay the night, Dell?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. I mean, if you want me to."

"Would I ask you to stay if I didn't want you to? You're just as stupid as Rin—hey!"

I just pegged him with a stapler and now I'm sprinting out of the room. My fingers grab the door frame as I slide into a hairpin turn, then I'm running down the hall. There's a pile of wires on the floor and my feet get tangled up in them. A brief struggle and I'm free. I'm at the end of the corridor and here's where Gumi spends most of her time. There she is behind a white counter, her eyebrows knit in concentration as she goes through a stack of papers. She's a doctor, an unlicensed one, but still a doctor. Kiyoteru recruited her when she swore that she could fix his eye, but he still can't see and she's still here. She's more of a prosthetic junkie than anything else. Fixes metal hands, feet, legs, eyes, faces. But not because she has such a kind and loving heart, it's because she has such a crazed and curious brain. You ask her to explain something and she dumps her brain out on you, repeating every minute detail. That's why I try to avoid engaging in conversation with her.

But I need to get my shoulder fixed, so I walk inside. "Hey."

She turns around. White skin, lime green hair piled up on her head, and eyes the color of Mountain Dew. A thick black headband is barely seen through locks of chemically seared hair and there's a pair of mirrored goggles sitting right above her forehead. I want a pair of those.

"Rin, I didn't know you were back. Kiyoteru's been wigging out all night." Her laugh is scattered, like pressing a bunch of different buttons on a keyboard and seeing what happens.

"Yeah, you know how he is. I talked to him, he's calm now. By the way, I need a Band-Aid or something for my shoulder."

The green eyes light up. "Really? What happened?"

Great, now I actually have to talk to her, so I speed through the story. Talk, talk, talk as I strip off my long sleeve shirt and lie down on the examination table. I'm lying on my stomach and feeling very happy that I don't have to look at her face.

"I need to see this hand!" she squeaks after I finish. It seems like all she heard was the part about Dell's unusual prosthetic. "Can't wait to just tear it apart!"

"Please don't do that," I sigh. But she's trapped inside her own delusional world and won't be coming out anytime soon; all efforts of shutting her up would be pointless. Just let her ramble, she'll eventually run out of things to say. My eyelids flutter as she patches up my shoulder-blade. I'm so tired.

"This needs more than a Band-Aid," I hear her say. Want to argue, but I can't. I'm suddenly so very tired. When she's finished she slaps my back and I jump. "There, all done!"

I mumble some kind of thank you and trudge off to my room. Didn't even bother to put my shirt back on, oh well. Right across from Gumi's office and adjacent to Len's room is where I sleep. It's a small room, a twin sized bed in one corner, my old Sinclair ZX80 on a beat up wooden desk in the other corner. That thing came out when, three or four years ago? I can't even remember, things change so fast. Mine is the only room with a closet, though. Nice perk. My thoughts are running together, so I let myself fall into bed. Slowly, I close my eyes and everything becomes extra dark.

VY2 invades my dream. I'm walking through that abandoned warehouse; at least, it was supposed to be abandoned. Then I see a figure writhing on the floor in a pool of black ink. It raises its head and it's Dell, screaming and clutching his left hand. Parts of him slowly begin to turn to metal, he's becoming a Frankenstein. But I'm not scared; I know this is a dream. I blink and the scene changes. It flashes through several different images: a street, a family of four eating dinner, the school on the midlevel. Nothing but recordings from surveillance cameras, VY2's surveillance cameras. He sees what I see; I see what he sees, pretty simple. He pops up behind me.

"Leave me alone," I say.

"But, Rin," he whimpers. I turn around. Tonight, he looks like a teenage boy, black hair, red eyes, and a ridiculous smile on his face. "I thought you said you liked red eyes?"

"We've been over this, you're a computer, I'm a person." I start to walk swiftly away, he follows me. But suddenly I have an idea. "You're a computer; tell me who those people were inside the warehouse?" I demand, whirling around and grabbing him by his shirt collar. VY2's data based body ripples when I touch it.

"You know I can't," he mutters.

I push him back and hiss through my teeth. "It's funny when you say that. You're supposedly a god who runs this city and spies on everybody, but you can't even do what you want. Since when does the megacorporation control a god?" My voice is laced with cynicism.

He shoves his hands into his pockets and starts looking around like a lost little kid. "You're so mean to me, Rin. It's not my fault people think I'm a god. All I care about is what you think of me." He smiles shyly.

"Well you know that I hate you."

"Yes," he replies, rolling his eyes. "But you shouldn't hate me. Really, you shouldn't. You don't know what it's like, falling asleep inside the monitor, resting your aching head against the side of the screen because you will never truly exist in the real world. I have nowhere else to go, no one else to talk to. I have only you, Rinny."

For a moment I stand speechless, glaring at his unnerving red eyes and not knowing what to think. But my body is starting to wake up; I only have a few seconds left. So I try what I try every night. Looking straight at his face, at those pixelated eyes, I scream, "Tell me the name of the megacorporation!"

"I'm sorry, Rin."

That's all he ever says, he never answers me.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This is the last super long chapter, I promise lol. The next few chapters will not be this long. Thanks for all of the reviews so far ^^. Enjoy!**

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I growl in frustration as my eyes pop open. It's still dark, maybe that's because my head is underneath my pillow. Snatching it off, I throw it across the room. It slams into the closet door. I sit up and stare at the wall. My hair is in my eyes, my body's tangled up in the sheets, and I'm wearing the same clothes from yesterday, I'm a wreck. But wait, was it yesterday? Glancing at the alarm clock that's lying on the floor tells me it's seven in the morning. Four hours of sleep, wonderful. A quick eye rub and hair flip and I'm up. The bed springs creak as I stand up and stretch my aching body.

There's no way I can wear these clothes all day. There's a hole in the right shoulder of my shirt and my pants are covered in grass stains. Conveniently enough, my shirt is already off. I flip through my closet and pick out my black vest with the chrome zipper. A black leather skirt is lying on the carpet, crammed into a corner of the closet, collecting dust. That'll match. I just remembered the new pair of socks I bought last week. Find them rolled into a ball under my bed, black thigh-highs with blue lightning bolts. I have to connect the circuit inside each of them before pulling them all the way up. But it's worth it, because now they're simultaneously flashing on and off like stars. My fingers fly through my hair; I grab my pair of red headphones, drape them around my neck, and walk out into the hall. All of the lights are on and I can hear voices in the front room.

I'm barely out of the hallway and someone shouts, "Look who's up and lookin' fine!"

Len is lounging in the black rolling chair, spinning in circles with a wild grin on his face. He has shaggy blonde hair with streaks of blue throughout. The cerulean strands glow in the light like hot metal wires, exposed and dangerous. One wrong move and they could send sparks up into the air. With each toss of his head, the highlights shine even brighter. His eyes shine too. Blue, like his hair, and they're burning within his skull. They're lasers boring into your brain.

"Oh shut up," I reply. My tone isn't as harsh as it was when I was speaking to Kiyoteru; I can't be hard on Len, his playful expression and sweet voice makes me lower my guard. We've dated before, on and off. It's never been a serious kind of thing, but he still makes me shiver. We are exciting and mysterious in each other's eyes, a robot and a human. Nothing alike, but almost exactly the same.

"I'm being serious," he insists. "That skirt is really hot. It's spicy!"

"Can you stop saying that? You sound like an idiot. And it's about time you got up, Rin." Kiyoteru is sitting at the desk, fixated on the computer screen in front of him. I can't see his eyes; the refraction off his glasses obscures them. Frozen stiff, typing rhythmically on the keyboard, he really looks like a robot right now.

"You shut up, too, I only slept for like three hours," I snap. There's a stack of papers on the desk. I absentmindedly flip through them. Without raising my head I say, "Where's Dell?"

Kiyoteru grunts, but Len answers me. He practically leaps out of the chair, his blue eyes lighting up, a toothy smirk appearing on his face. "He's the new guy! I met him earlier. Pretty cool, kind of awkward though. He laughs at everything. But it's funny how he had to save your butt, Rinny."

"Yeah it's hilarious. So where is he?"

"He's conked out in Gumi's office. She's been examining that hand all night long. I walked in there thirty minutes ago and he was dead asleep on the examination table, and she was still looking at it!"

I heave a sigh and look away from the pile of meaningless papers. This is why I can't stand Gumi. "I'd better go save him, then."

As I'm leaving, Kiyoteru shouts, "Bring the both of them in here. We all need to talk about the warehouse."

"Whatever."

I find Dell exactly how Len described, slouched against the table with his left arm stretched out. A white lab coat with lime green hair is hovering over him. "Come on, Kiyoteru's calling a meeting." No answer. Sigh, now I have to walk inside. I go from carpet to cold white tile. "Gumi, come on."

"Hmm?" She's fully engaged in her examination, holding the prosthetic gingerly with one hand, and gritting her teeth in concentration. White hot metal is aflame in the crevices of the hand. She is welding it back together. When she turns to me, her face is pale and she's got this nightmarish look about her, all of the blood swimming between the papery thinness of her skin. The green eyes turn like screws. "Amazing, it's just amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, yeah it's amazing, I get it."

I glance up and she's right in front of me. Ok, she's really scaring me right now.

"No, you don't get it. It's seriously unlike anything I've ever seen. Look at these X-rays." Gumi pushes a few slides towards me. Fluorescent white plates of metal jump out of the black background. They look like poorly developed photographs. Dell's prosthetic appears to be quite normal, with swiveling joints and a patchwork of crisscrossing metal sheets. But the inside of the hand, the inside of the hand, there's something weird about it. Wait, what the? My face is inches away from the picture. There are these miniscule brackets lining each finger and they seem to be holding something in place. Pincers are clamped onto invisible threads. It's a complex network of struts and braces.

"These things don't show flesh, right?" I ask, my eyes fixed on the image.

"Only bone, metal, things that the X-rays don't pass through."

"So what's supposed to be here?"

"That is the most amazing part," she whispers wondrously. She pushes the hair from her face and picks up one of the slides. "Nerves, each bracket is holding a nerve bundle."

I feel my eyes widen.

"Yeah, it's creepy. Every nerve is connected to the prosthetic. Most artificial limbs are attached at the place where the real one was cut off. A metal hand is just a solid piece of machinery that is, for lack of a better word, plugged into the arm. But this, his whole nervous system is integrated directly into the prosthetic. Someone took a lot of time doing this. I'm guessing Dell here got into a bit of trouble with a big wig on the upper-level."

"I had a feeling he might have," I mutter. So I was right, he was or is some kind of hacker. If not a hacker than some kind of criminal, an enemy of the big corporations.

Maybe even the megacorporation.

I'm rocking on the balls of my feet; my mind is itching to know the answers to these questions. I cross my arms and rap my fingers on my elbow, biting my lip as I think. For as long as I can remember, the megacorporation has ruled this city, with VY2 as their puppet, and Dell may be the one to change all that. Of course, I could be completely wrong. He could just be a computer-illiterate vagrant who sleeps on a bench, or…

"Didn't you say Kiyoteru needed us?" Gumi's voice shatters my train of thought.

"Uh, yeah. Dell, wake up." I lean across the table and give his shoulder a shake. He's awake, blinking and squinting his eyes in the harsh light, his silver hair bedraggled. There's this confused look on his face.

"Good morning," Gumi says in her annoyingly bubbly voice. He doesn't respond for a moment. He just lays there blinking. Then he finally sits up and shakes his head in a dog-like way. He runs his hands down his face just as Gumi shouts, "Wait, the metal is still hot!" and I almost laugh as he leaps off the stool.

"Ow…" he whimpers. He sounds like a little kid again, one who just touched a hot stove and doesn't know why it hurt. Bright red streaks line his left cheek. Of course Gumi starts spazzing out once she sees them.

She is frantically apologizing, Dell's insisting he's all right, and I'm about to lose my mind. "Ok, we have to go," I say loudly. A couple of minutes pass and we're finally out of the office. I let Gumi walk a little ways ahead.

"I shouldn't have let her look at your hand," I whisper to Dell. Deep down, I kind of feel bad about everyone treating him like a freak. "She's just one of those people. Can you relate? Someone who's really—"

"Annoying? Yeah, I understand. Don't worry about it."

We look at each other and laugh.

* * *

Kiyoteru is not laughing, not even smiling. He's still sitting at his desk, staring at the screen. There's nothing on it now, just the lime green ribbons spinning endlessly in cyberspace. "Sit," he commands.

Gumi decides to lean against one of the book shelves and Dell finds a stack of cardboard boxes to sit on, so I'm left standing alone on the white tile. Something just kicked my shin, Len's foot. I give him an irritated look but he just smiles and pats his leg. He wants me to sit on his lap, seriously?

Come on, you can resist, Rin. Oh who are you kidding? No you can't, just do it. I slowly sit down on his thighs, my face burning. Losing my cool, losing my cool. But I can't help it, he's just so hot.

"You know I was just joking before about the new guy having to save your butt. I think you're tough, Rinny," he whispers in my ear. I roll my eyes.

Len is so close to me, I can feel his chest against my back. Now his arm comes around my abdomen and he hugs me against his body. Is anyone else seeing this? Sure hope not.

When I look around, everyone is staring at Kiyoteru, who has stood up and is half sitting on the front of his desk, arms folded across his chest. Len keeps his arm around me but loosens his grip. All of the sudden I find my hand on his, feeling his fingers, every ridge on his bones. I swear I can almost hear him smile. His skin is so cold. Of course it is, there's no blood running beneath it, no veins or arteries.

"All right, people." Kiyoteru's voice almost makes me jump. "There's only five of us so I'm gonna assume we all know what happened last night. Nobody was supposed to go to the warehouse on their own. Nobody is ever supposed to try to complete a job on their own." He looks askance at me with those grey eyes. "But that's not what's bothering me. It's the fact that there were people there. Len, you checked the security cameras?"

Len nods. "I was up every night this week doing that. Unless these people were invisible, there's no way they could have been there without me noticing."

"And that's what bothers me! They shouldn't have been there, and because of them we lost the product. I never thought our own kind would turn against us. When a company takes a job it's theirs, it's in the code; you don't try and sabotage another company's operation."

"Our own kind?" I cut in. "No, Kiyoteru, they didn't look like they were from the underground. None of the hacking companies have a redhead and a bunch of giant volunteer lookalikes on their team."

"So what, they're rollers?"

"No, I think this is like the third time I've told you that."

"Well then if they're not from the low-level and they're not cops, what are they? Huh, Rin?" Kiyoteru snaps. Click, click. He's clicking a pen like he always does when he's agitated. Click click, click click.

"I don't know! They could be anything," I growl through clenched teeth.

"Maybe they're mercenaries," Gumi offers.

No one pays any attention. Now all of us are shouting, trying to pitch our own ideas, trying to prove each other wrong. Maybe the whole job was a trap, maybe not. Maybe the redhead works for a corporation, maybe even the megacorporation. Kiyoteru still thinks they are jealous, fellow hackers and Len thinks they're robots with invisibility veils built into their systems. I hear Gumi exclaim that they might be aliens from outer space and I know this conversation is going nowhere.

"Why don't we just go back and find out," says a quiet voice from behind. We all turn, it's Dell. He's pulling at a piece of tape on one of the cardboard boxes.

Kiyoteru has this stupid expression on his face. "You want to go back, that makes perfect sense," he mumbles.

"Yeah it does." Dell's voice sounds stronger for a moment. It's sterile like a surgical knife, hard like the steel that the buildings are made out of. No longer immature but no longer fatherly, just a commanding voice that engulfs the entire room and echoes inside my skull. The eyes that are staring at us are frightening. All of our eyes are fixed on the vanishing point that is Dell, and we nod in unison. I feel possessed.

"I guess I can see your point," Kiyoteru says quietly. "What do you want to do?"

All at once, the pressure is lifted and that steely glint is gone from Dell's dark eyes. "Whatever you want to do. You are the leader." His words are fringed with laughter.

"Well then, I say we go back," Kiyoteru says firmly.

"But you just said—"

"Quiet, Len. We're going back, that's it. Let's not make this a bigger deal than it is."

Gumi raises her hand. "I volunteer to stay behind!"

"Ok, so Rin, Len, and Dell can go."

"You're not gonna come?" Dell asks. There's that weird voice again, I wish he'd stop.

"No, not really my thing," Kiyoteru mutters. The room is silent. Then he clears his throat. "Go in the afternoon. There's no point in waiting for night. And take the tunnels, it's easier. You can all go now."

Gumi says she's going to get something to eat, we give her our orders and then she jets out of there, the front door slamming behind her. The rest of us file out. Dell heads towards Gumi's office, saying that he wants to look at the X-rays.

Eight thirty in the morning, I have a while, so what do I want to do? Now that I have that Kawasaki, maybe I should get a helmet, a really deadly one with a mirrored mask and blue flames climbing up the sides. My wallet's in my desk so I veer off towards my room. I'm cut off by Len. He stands with arms extended, blocking the doorway and glaring at me with those fiery eyes.

"Need something?" I ask. My voice is weak. I see his blonde hair, smoldering blue eyes, his pale skin glowing under the low lit fluorescents. A head taller than me, strong arms, and that sneaky smile that's etched on his face. So hot. He's just sixteen but he looks so much older.

"You're such a tough girl," he tells me, "but you don't have to be all the time. You know I still like you, Rinny. I can tell."

"Oh of course you can tell," I say sarcastically. "If you're so smart tell me if I like you." I open my mouth to say something else, but why? Just stop talking, why do you always talk when you're nervous? I'm going to ruin this moment—

Wow. He just. Kissed me.

A spark of electricity runs up through my face. His lips shock me like when put your finger inside a wall outlet, or stick a knife into a toaster, or accidentally touch an exposed wire, or, or, or. I can't even think right. Such a head rush. I don't even realize that he's staring at me with those electric eyes. We're glaring at each other, not blinking, just staring. I can never get used to these kisses.

His arms are coiled around me, my hands are on his chest. I've pushed him against the door frame, not because I want him to get away, just because. I don't know why. Underneath my fingertips, I feel his mechanical heart beating, humming like an engine and then roaring like a tiger. I'm still kissing him, can feel the ions radiating off his skin. Taste the sparks of electricity on my tongue. We move closer. I stand up on the balls of my feet; run my fingers through his hair. He hugs me tighter until it feels as though I'm about to break. But it's not a bad sort of feeling at all. Len is strong. How can he not be a real person like me? He's just a different kind of human.

"Oh, uh sorry."

I jump away from Len. Dell is standing just outside the office with this blank look on his face. He looks from me to Len, then back again. "He's not giving you trouble, right?" He sounds like he's my father. But this must be awkward; he does have a daughter my age.

"No, of course not. I-I have to get something from my room. See you later Dell, Len."

There's that smile. "Later, Rinny."

I almost slip as I run into my room and my hands have a hard time opening my desk. Five tries later and I'm out the door.

Behind me I hear Len say, "Thanks a lot, man," and then a frantic apology from Dell. Something that feels like a smile spreads across my face.

* * *

Outside it is cold. Should have grabbed my jacket off the chair. I zip my vest up all the way to my chin, slip on my headphones, turn on my Walkman, and walk down the street. Billy Idol's White Wedding is blasting in my ears. The long row of houses comes into view. All of the garages are open and throngs of people are crowded inside them. They're all shouting. Cries of victory from excited gamers, roars of defeat. A group of children are huddled around a white box, eyes aglow and faces warm with reflected computer screen light. Someone is installing a massive speaker system in one garage; another is building their own computer from pieces of scrap metal. I see some more kids. Two of them are wearing virtual reality goggles and fighting with plastic swords while the others watch on in amazement. I sigh, I love the underground. Billy is saying how it's a nice day to start again when one of the little kids spots me and run out of the garage. She sprints down her driveway and stops at the mailbox, grabbing onto it and almost toppling over in the process. "Rinny!" she exclaims.

"Hey, Yuki. What are you up to?"

Her big brown eyes light up. She looks like a deer in the headlights. "I'm watchin' some of the other kids play virtual reality. It'll be my turn soon!" Yuki bounces up and down in excitement. Her brown hair flies every which way. "Where are you going, Rinny?"

"Shopping. I need some stuff."

"Shopping? Are you a girly girl, Rinny?" she asks and then starts laughing uncontrollably. She can't say her r's right so whatever she says is extra cute.

"Haha, no I'm not. Hey I've gotta go, so I'll talk to later, ok?"

She nods. "Ok, bye bye."

Yuki waves to me as I go. She's a cute six-year-old, a bright-eyed child of the neon lights. She lives with her grandparents in one of the many townhouses. Parents died years ago, though I don't know how they died. Whenever I walk down this street, she always finds me and says hello. Yuki is a mouse running through a maze, searching for that scrap of food, and always, always finding it.

The shops soon come into view. Halos of neon light heat the air around me. Tag is open, the bright lights shine through the windows. The bell over the door jingles when I walk inside. Everything is covered in a film of green from the fluorescents overhead. This place used to be a grocery store, you can tell. White open shelves are arranged in the center, sliding glass doors that once opened up into the frozen food now hold pieces of hardware and other random things. But the chill is still here. The counter is empty. Dust collects on its surface, floats through the air and sticks to the ceiling fan. It stretches across the room like a bunch of spider webs. I walk around. My footsteps are so loud.

Gloves, shoes, tattered jackets and shirts, I see a lot of things. Here we go, there's a shelf lined with helmets, dozens of them, all different sizes. Some have broken masks, others have chipped paint. There has to be something good here.

"You need something, Rin?"

I turn around and there's Akaito, the owner of Tag, leaning on the dusty counter with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. A long, jagged scar cuts across his face, revealing the glinting metal of his skeleton. "I was in the back," he says. The cigarette shakes up and down when he talks. "Didn't hear you come in. So what do ya need?"

"It's ok, and I'm looking for a helmet."

Akaito raises his eyebrows. "A helmet?"

"Yeah, like for a motorcycle," I reply. He raises his eyebrows again. Come on, is it really that surprising that I have a motorcycle?

"I didn't know you had one. What kind is it?"

"A Kawasaki 750 Turbo," I say, folding my arms.

"Geez, those things are huge. But you're pretty tall so I guess it makes sense. Motorcycles are fun, they give you a sense of freedom." Akaito suddenly sighs and a grim smile spreads across his face. He becomes a young vagrant with smooth skin and dangerous eyes, tearing across the bridge that leads toward the mainland, his head bent over a heaving metal body. There's a blinding flash, spinning lights, and then he falls into a puddle warmer than blood and the bike is flung over the bridge and into the darkness, never seen again. I can see the crash still lingering in his eyes. He turns his scarred face towards me.

"Turbo's are nice, a steel frame, fuel injected. You know it can go a quarter-mile in 10.71 seconds?"

"No I didn't, thanks for the info. So can you help me find a decent helmet, or what?"

"Take a chill pill. I'll help, I'll help." He disappears behind the counter and pops back up a few seconds later. "There, best one I have." He slams the helmet down on the counter. A black flip-up with a clear mask, super shiny, with memory foam padding inside, and there's this lime green star on the left side. Ok, so it's not the blue flamed, mirror masked one I had hoped for, but still, it's amazing. New and unscratched, slick as an untouched computer screen.

"It's perfect," I say breathily. My hand hovers centimeters above it, not touching it, just marveling at its perfection. I can see my electric blue eyes reflected in the helmet's surface. Facets of light sparkle like diamonds. I have to squint my eyes.

"Take it," Akaito says.

"For free?"

"Sure. I don't need the money, what would I buy with it?" A laugh, then he takes out his cigarette and flicks it onto the ground.

"Thanks, seriously." I pick it up and turn it around. "This helmet is killer." There's a clock behind Akaito's head, mounted on the black, grimy wall. Wow, it's almost ten. I've been out an hour and a half, better head back before Kiyoteru starts wigging out. I wave to Akaito as I leave.

The helmet is tucked under my arm. A swarm of lights attack my senses as I walk outside. Colors are drops of acid rain pelting my skin. This crazy brain storm lets up when I get to the townhouses. Blasts of cold air suddenly hit my face. My hair flies everywhere. High above in the ceiling of the low-level, giant pipes are pushing ice-cold gusts out from their gaping mouths. You can feel them from down here, they're that strong. They keep the air circulating and the people from suffocating. I've never understood why the city even bothers to try and keep us alive, everyone up there hates us. But now sheets of fog are forming and I'm losing my train of thought. So I keep walking. My eyes are flashlights in the dense mist.

I open the front door and the first thing I hear is, "About time you got back." Of course it's Kiyoteru, still sitting at the desk and staring at the computer with those grey eyes.

"Nice to see you too. I'll be leaving now."

Just as I'm stepping into the hall he yells, "Gumi has food if you want some!"

"Whatever!" I shout back. There are flashing lights coming out from under Len's door. I push it open and almost start laughing. Dell and Len are playing Pong on a Zenith television. Dell is sitting on the floor looking like a kid trying to take a math test. His tongue is sticking out from between his teeth and his eyebrows are furrowed. Len is lying on the couch that serves as his bed. The remote control is sitting atop his chest. He barely touches it, but I have a feeling he's winning.

My hypothesis is confirmed when Dell exclaims, "I hate this stupid game!"

Len laughs hysterically. Then he sees me. "Sup, Rinny? That's a sick helmet, by the way."

"And it was free, that's the best part," I tell him.

"Lemme see," Dell says. The prosthetic hand pulls the helmet away from me. "Wow, I can see my face in it. It's so shiny."

"Yeah, I know. Now give it back." I have to jump to grab it out of his hands. "So what have you guys been up to?"

The next half hour is spent answering this question and doing other things. We take turns playing Pong. Len has a Donkey Kong arcade game, we play that, too. Then Dell ogles at the Space Phone on the television, Gumi pops in and tosses me a sandwich, and we all try on my new helmet. Eleven forty-five now. We start talking about our upcoming journey into the deep tunnels. The best route to take, what to expect, what to bring. It's a furnace down there. I tell Dell that he can't wear a leather jacket if he expects to get out alive; he'll cook like an overheating hard drive.

"But I don't have anything else," he says sadly.

Len hops off the couch and starts looking through his closet. "Here." He throws an AC/DC shirt at Dell. "That shirt is way too big for me. It just might fit your giant shoulders."

"Thanks," Dell mutters.

It's twelve, we have to go soon. "Well I'm gonna jet. I'll meet you guys in the front," I say. I need to go get my gloves and a flashlight. Also need to change my socks; they're too bright for the underground tunnels.

Back in my room, I hold the flashlight in my teeth as I pull on a pair of gray and black striped leggings. Should I keep my brand new boots on? Yeah, yeah I will. Gray metallic gloves, check. Flashlight, check. I'd better take my knife too. All right, let's go.

Len and Dell are already in the front room.

"Ok, now that you're all here, I'll say it," Kiyoteru says from behind the desk. "Be careful." An awkward silence follows.

"That's it?" I ask.

He adjusts his glasses and nods. "That's it. Now go on, or whatever." Funny, he's not looking at any of us. Maybe he really is worried.

I turn to Len. "You ready?"

There's that mysterious smile. "Of course. I'm amped."

* * *

**A/N: Do not fear, RinxYuuma lovers, there will be plenty of RinxYuuma kissing scenes in the future lol, but Yuuma needs a little competition, right? ;). Until next update!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: A semi-short chapter, just to break up the parade of massive 4,000 word plus chapters lol. Enjoy!**

* * *

The tunnels are found in the outskirts of the low-level city. They're massive circular holes in the walls of the underground. The low-level, midlevel, and upper level are all curved. Take three computer discs, stack them on top of each other and then push them apart so that they look like stairs, some of the second disc hidden under the one on top. But you can completely see the top disc, because it's number one. That's the entire city, a trio of circular steps. Part of the midlevel exists under the steel plate of the upper level. Poor, gray eyed people live there. At least down here we have food and computers.

I'm trying to think happy thoughts as we walk up to the tunnel entrance. The tunnels wind like electrical cables, twisting deep inside the earth, splitting off into hundreds of different branches, crunching under the pressure of the city that sits on top of them. The tunnels are a circuit board. You can enter them from the surface, but nobody ever does. Too dangerous. A giant, abandoned overpass hovers over the surface entrance. I've never seen it, it's supposedly by an old power plant, and only idiots go near dilapidated power plants. So I stick to the subterranean entrance, but even that one is dangerous. It stands before me.

I pull on my gloves, push back my hair, and take a deep breath. Len doesn't look scared, but there's an overly serious look in his glowing eyes. On the contrary, Dell looks like he's about to drop dead. Red eyes wide, skin whiter than a white box. His fists are clenched. I can see his chest rising and falling under the AC/DC shirt.

"You don't have to be so scared," I tell him. Someone lights a fire in his eyes and he looks at me like he wants to kill me. I'm just gonna take a little step back, just a little one.

"I'm not scared!" he roars.

"Geez, sorry I said anything," I mutter. Anger is filling up every part of my brain. Blinded by irritation, I walk straight into the ominous darkness of the tunnels. "Hurry up already!" I shout. I don't look over my shoulder, but I can hear their footsteps. We all turn on our flashlights.

"Try not to blink," Len says. His voice echoes throughout the tunnels. It sounds like he's everywhere at once. "You never know what's gonna jump out of the shadows."

I roll my eyes and continue walking. It's black as night and thick as death down here. My eyes shine like lamplights. I can almost see their reflection on the floor. For a while, no one speaks. All I hear is the sound of Dell's heavy feet slapping the concrete ground. His breathing fills my ears. Straight, keep going straight. Count the number of footsteps. One hundred, one hundred and one, one hundred and—what was that? I come to a dead halt, Len slams into my back.

"You hear that?"

"Over there," Len whispers. He points his flashlight to my left. We scream in unison. It's a giant, hulking man with silver hair and an AC/DC shirt, wait…

"DELL!" I shriek.

"Chill out, it was just a rat." Now that I look at him, I see that he's holding the disgusting creature by its worm-like tail. The rat is huge. Years of feeding off toxic waste has enlarged its body, made its feet gnarled and shriveled, and stretched out its face like how a hand stretches a latex glove. Foam spews from its mouth. I almost scream again, it just opened its eye. Yellow, bulbous, about to pop. It starts to writhe in Dell's hand. The tail wriggles, the rat flails, and then it jumps up and sinks its fangs into Dell's prosthetic. Wait, it just bit a metal hand, what? He yells and shakes his hand until the rat flies off.

"Are you ok?" I ask.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He starts hopping around, grabbing his hand and cursing under his breath.

"Dang! Did you see the size of that thing?" Len exclaims. I elbow him in the ribs and walk over to Dell.

"Let me see," I say. He turns around. I swear there are tears in his eyes. Slowly, he offers up his hand. Two triangular indentations can be seen in the top of the prosthetic. The rat didn't bite all the way through. "It's not too bad. Here." I've found a Band-Aid in my left pocket. Miniature Pac Man's cover its surface. Probably won't do much, but at least it's something.

"Thanks, Rin," Dell mumbles.

Silence.

Then Len says, "You want her to kiss it? Come on, let's go!"

It's quiet again. I feel the wall with my right hand and keep counting my footsteps. The wall is slick with muck and slime. I almost trip over a few bodies, both human and robot. Sometimes the surfacers find one of the tunnels' hidden entrances and try to find their way to the underground city, but they always die. And sometimes the robots from the low-level venture too far into the tunnels and become lost in the maze. They all feel the same under my feet. Hard metal, hard bone. There really isn't any difference. The corpses bother Len, I hear him gasp each time he steps on one. But Dell is fine.

Two pinpricks of light suddenly appear in the distance. My pupils shrink. We've reached the subway. Barely anyone on the surface ever rides it, they're too afraid of those that live in the darkness. It still comes by though, about every fifteen minutes. Its sleek white body comes shooting out of the shadows. Lights from inside the train flicker on and off. Like when you walk by an apartment building at night and people turn their lights on, then off, then on again and the squares of light on the ground appear and disappear. The train flies past like a moving picture show, blatant white against the blackness of the tunnel walls. Then it's gone. I can hear its wheels on the tracks. I motion with my hand and we keep walking. Now the tunnels merge into the subway system. We have to walk along the edge, on the strip of concrete next to the tracks that's only two feet across. Rats scuttle beneath us. They squeak and chew on unseen pieces of food. Probably somebody's rotted face, or the wires from a dead robot's finger. Whatever. We all tread carefully. Dell has to walk sideways so he can fit on the walkway.

Darkness presses against my skin. My breath comes out hard and ragged. Keep going, don't let yourself feel claustrophobic. The ceiling seems to fall down on top of me. My eyes dart around inside my skull, sweat drips down my forehead. Someone reaches out and grabs my hand, it's Len. Dell is in front of me, I grab his hand. We're a human chain, slowly inching our way through the tunnel, breathing fast. Two pinpricks of light appear again. Blasts of hot air come at us, whipping my hair in front of my face.

Then Dell's prosthetic hand twitches in mine. It's like his whole body convulses. Then he jumps, doesn't slip, jumps onto the tracks. In slow motion he falls, I reach out, screaming. Like another moving picture show, clicking just one slide at a time. Jump down, jump onto the tracks. But you could die. I know. The train could hit you. I know. But my feet move anyways. Someone yells behind me.

"Rin, stop!"

Hear it coming closer, screeching wheels and electrical sparks. Fall hard on the concrete. My foot hits one of the tracks. Dell is curled up with his head against his chest, a little kid huddling in the darkness. I shake him. "Get up, get up," I repeat over and over again. Feel the burning hot lights on my back; hear the grating of unoiled wheels. Heartbeat accelerates, pounds against my ribcage. It hurts. Who's screaming so loud? Wanna tell them to shut up. Wait, it's me. "Dell, Dell, get up! Train, we're gonna get run over! We're gonna die, Dell!"

He turns and looks at me with his red eyes. "Maybe that's what I want," he whispers.

What? My lungs stop breathing for a moment. How, how could he say that? So I'm sitting here, my hands dangling at my side, just staring. Lights fall out in front of me. Our shadows jump out like ghosts, black against the yellow headlights. Grating and screeching. Wheels moaning, heart pounding. Biting my lip so hard that I taste blood. Like iron, and copper. Like I'm chewing on a copper wire, yeah that's it. A gust of wind hits my back. Makes my spine shiver, my eyes widen.

What am I doing? Panicked blur. Grab Dell, roll, keep rolling. The ground rattles under me; my head is banging against the concrete. I'm screaming. The world shifts into a full tilt and starts spinning.

As I roll, VY2 speaks inside my head. "Rin, don't die! If you die you can't do what you promised!"

"You're right!" I yell. I've rolled far enough. Now I'm sitting up. My head slaps the cold concrete ledge. The train zooms by and melts into a bunch of parading colors. I imagine this is what a Rubik's Cube would look like if you melted it. Just like that, it's gone. "That-that…" I can't even talk right. We're both breathing like we just got out of water. I really do feel like I just got out of water, there's sweat dripping down my face. Look over and there's Dell. He has no clue what just happened.

"Idiot!" I shout. "Idiot, idiot, idiot!" I start punching his shoulder. "Are you mental? 'Maybe that's what I want', who says that?"

"I-I'm, I'm sorry," he mumbles. I stand up and climb over the ledge.

"Yeah, you better be."

Len runs over from the other side and helps me up. "You're both idiots," he says. "But seriously, what was that, Dell?"

"I slipped," he replies. I push Len away and stand before him. Looking up at his face, I see fire somewhere in his eyes, dangerous, but beautiful. He really believes he didn't jump.

"If you say so," I say quietly. My eyes look into the darkness behind him. "Come on, we don't have all day."

The rest of the time goes by in a flash. Blackness, muck and mildew, the wet sticky walls, then it's all gone, just like the train.

"Up there," Len says. He points up at a manhole in the ceiling. We've come to a dead-end, one that's hidden in a room off the main tunnel. Only those from the underground could find this place. I know the tunnels like the back of my hand.

"We're under Calexico Street," I say. "It's close enough, shall we?" I mount the ladder on the wall, and Len and Dell follow. With one elbow, I push the manhole, but it won't budge. Once, twice, then it opens on the third try. It opens like the pop top on a soda can. Cold air from the surface rushes in. I stick my head out and look around. Black, shadowy buildings, asphalt littered with garbage; I can see an Amstrad CPC lying broken on the ground. It's an alleyway. I throw the manhole aside and now I'm climbing out, breathing in the cool but polluted air. Len collapses on the asphalt beside me and heaves a massive sigh. I hear Dell slide the manhole back on. The towering buildings on either side stare down at us with blank windows. They disappear into the gray clouds of smog overhead. It's quiet, so quiet, and it's two in the afternoon. My blue eyes narrow. I know what's going on.

I wait until the others catch their breath. "This way," I say with force in my voice.

Dell trips over some wire and broken glass as we walk. That's the only sound. Everywhere else, there's silence. I look up just before I cross the threshold of the alley and see the shadow of a clear blue sky. Somewhere up there, past all the haze and lights, there's a sky and a sun. Too bad no one's allowed to fly planes. If we could, I'd be up there all the time. I look back down and step out into the street. It's like someone is pouring acid all over my eyes. I have to close them and cover my face. The neon lights are too bright.

"I never get used to that," Len mutters. He hasn't been to the surface in a while.

Dell throws his arm out in front of us. "Wait, there might be cops out. It's two."

"Yeah, I know it's two. That's a good thing. The people won't be paying attention to us," I reply.

"But the rollers will," he says in that parental voice of his. I walk under his raised arm.

"Who cares? They give us any trouble and you can strangle them with your prosthetic hand. Now let's go."

We head down the empty street. All the people are in Hal Square, that's why everything seems so desolate and alone. The city looks so different in the daytime. Neon signs look faded, everything blurs into a single mass of color. No longer do the amputees stare out from the corners and shadows, they're in the Square, dragged there by the cops no doubt. Just a bunch of cats skulk in the alleyways now. If you listen, you can hear them mewing, their voices echoing throughout the city. The three of us walk in silence. Then the street ends and Hal Square is before us. I close my eyes as another beam of light pierces my vision.

When I open them, I see it.


	6. Chapter 6

Thousands of people are kneeling on the cold, dark asphalt, staring up with wide eyes. A thousand deer in the headlights. Their eyes grow large like lamplights, like dolls. A calm expression blankets their faces, not really a smile but not really a frown. They are entranced by what they see. Mind control at its best. They sit in the naked light and say nothing. Then all at once, they fall down on their faces. In unison they chant, "Hail VY2, for you keep us strong," and then come back up. Couple seconds later they bow again and say, "Hail VY2, for you keep us safe." This will go on for the next hour and a half, plenty of time for us to slip over to the warehouse unnoticed.

"I hate all of this attention," VY2 whispers in my brain.

I ignore him and keep staring. Now that I look again, I can see the cops walking up and down the rows of people, dressed in black and silver with batons in their hands. They smack the batons against their palms. Whack, whack. A threat, just in case someone tries to leave. But nobody wants to go. The only ones who know this is all a farce are the amputees and the homeless. They sit around muttering to themselves, some even close their ears when the rest of the people pray to VY2.

Please don't let the rollers notice us.

"I swear," Len starts, "we live in a city of idiots. Let's get out of here." He sounds disgusted. I'm disgusted too, silently though, not verbally. The same thought turns in my head, we have to get by without them seeing us. But why? All of the sudden this feeling is rising up inside me. I don't want to be unseen; I want them to notice me.

"Let's run out and see what happens."

"Rin, come on. That's a mental idea. The cops will—"

"Yes, let's," Dell cuts in.

Len looks back and forth from me to Dell.

I grab his hand. "Come on. You know it'd be fun."

A sigh. "Fine. But we can't just book it like a couple of kids pulling a prank. We've gotta say something when we run."

It's almost like I can see VY2 raising his hand inside my mind. "I have an idea!" he says only to me.

I listen for a moment, then look up and repeat what he says to me. "Down with VY2, he makes us weak. Down with VY2, he lets us die."

"It's true," VY2 says. "I let people die all the time. And if someone bothers me I just lock their door and fill up their room with carbon monoxide. Their neighbors can hear them screaming, it's kind of funny." He laughs, and his laugh is all mechanical and robotic sounding.

"Sounds good to me." Len's voice makes me jump. I was lost in my head for a moment, didn't realize where I was.

"So let's do it then," Dell says. He bounces up and down like a little kid waiting to go on the LiveWire. We all nod simultaneously, interlocking our hands.

Ready yourself.

The people rise then fall back down.

Get ready.

Up and down.

Set.

Up and down.

Go.

The silence only lasts for a second more. We run into the neon lights of Hal Square screaming like maniacs. People look up and stare at us, their faces blank, paper masks. Then they look afraid. We've punched a hole through the wall of silence, broken the eardrum and now blood is flowing through the streets, down the rows of people. Those with metal hands, legs, eyes, jump up and run with us, screaming our chant. "Down with VY2, he makes us weak! Down with VY2, he lets us die!" It's utter chaos. What was once a sacred ceremony is now a massive lurching crowd of people yelling and crying. We are ripping their faces apart, tearing out staples and trying desperately to find the humanity underneath. I find nothing but wires and more paper, hundreds of empty sheets devoid of knowledge.

The cops don't even try to keep the peace; they just start hitting whoever's in reach with their batons. Now there's actual blood streaming down the streets. It is loud against the black asphalt. Ten thousand people are running around in circles. Bodies rush past. Feel the hot sweat, the blood, the fear. It's a head rush. People speed by me just like the subway train. Now I realize that I'm no longer holding anyone's hand. But still, I keep running, breathing hard, arms flailing. My fist collides with a cop's nose. Hear it break. The bones snap under my knuckles. Wow, look what we've started. I wish I could read the minds of everyone here, see what they're thinking, if only for a moment. But I can't, so I keep running.

I almost collide with somebody. It's Dell. "What do we do?" I scream above the din. He shrugs his shoulders. I can tell that he's laughing.

"I don't know! Just run!"

So we lock our hands together and jet through the crowd of people. Cold, wet, acid rain starts falling from the sky. The people shout even louder. But we're dancing in the rain, spinning around in circles, laughing, just like a real father and daughter would do. Frantic people ram into us as we twirl. I think somebody's blood just splattered on my face. Still, I'm smiling. We keep spinning like tops until a roller comes up behind Dell and tries to hit him with a baton. I scream and then we run away like kids who just got caught vandalizing, or shoplifting, or maybe even trying to hide a body. The cop can't follow us, there's too many people pushing and shoving. He's blocked by an impenetrable human wall. Dell and I take shelter under the awning of Echo Lake, the cyber café with the big red neon letters. Then we burst out in a fit of laughter.

"That was so sick! Such a head rush. I can't believe we did that!"

"Me either! I've never had so much fun," Dell replies. A soaking wet Len comes stumbling towards us.

"You guys left me!" he whines. He shakes his head like a dog and wipes the raindrops from his eyes.

"Oh who cares!" I exclaim and rush forward to kiss his rain-streaked face. Smiling at him, I say, "Let's head over to the warehouse. We shouldn't waste any more time."

I run off. They follow wordlessly, the sound of pandemonium fading behind us.

* * *

The nonexistent sun is high in the sky when we reach the warehouse. Pale yellow streaks slip through the haze, hit the ground and reflect back against my face; like a mirror. We're standing here, our clothes clinging to our skins, fear welling up inside us. I look up at the double doors. The man who got chopped in half isn't there, so that means they've been back since last night. Taking a deep breath, I open the doors.

All I hear is, "We saw you coming!" and then it's craziness. Gunshots, screaming. I dive behind a cardboard box. Len and Dell go off in different directions, one behind a supporting beam, the other lying on the floor behind a crate.

"Who's shooting at us!?" Len shouts.

"I'll find out."

"Wait, what?" I turn around, but Dell is gone. He leaps over the boxes like a cat and tackles a man holding a machine gun. Movements are blurred. Another man is down. Two unconscious, one still shooting. The very top of the cardboard box blocks my vision, but I can see enough. Dell knocks another man down, takes the gun from his hand, stands up, and then…and then.

I feel my eyes widen. The loud bang is still echoing in my ears. He shot him, Dell just shot him. "Your friend is scary," VY2 whimpers inside my head.

The man lying on the floor is dead. Dell stands over him, the gun in his hand, that terrifying look in his eyes. "Drop your gun," he says quietly. There's something deadly in his voice. It forms ice crystals in your veins and sends chills up and down your spine. His eyes are dark; somebody turned off a switch inside his brain. Now they're just black holes set deep inside his face, sucking in the air and light around him. Those eyes slide up and stare at the skinny, red-haired girl before him. "Drop it, or do you wanna end up like him?"

There's a clattering sound as the redhead's gun falls to the floor. I stand up from behind the cardboard box, my hiding place, and walk out into the open where everyone can see me. They all stare at me, two unconscious men, a dead one, and a red-haired girl. The one from before. She is alone now, and is slowly getting down on the floor, her hands out, unarmed.

"What do you want?" I ask shakily. I walk up behind Dell, my arms crossed. My body is trembling.

"You wanna kill us?" Len has come up behind me.

Dell says nothing. He suddenly looks down at his hands, his eyes widening. The gun shines under the fluorescents. He tosses it aside. "This is ridiculous, get up."

The girl's red hair falls down her back as she stands, licking at her spine like a living fire. Now that I see her up close, I notice that she's young, probably late teens. She's beautiful but clueless; you can see it in her eyes. "You're a dangerous man," she whispers. "They didn't say anything about you."

"They," Dell repeats. "They didn't know I was here?"

"No. They said there were only four of you." She's not looking at Dell. Her eyes wander over the bodies of her unconscious friends. One of them is dead, dark red blood pooling on the concrete.

Len and I stay quiet.

"Why are you doing this?" Dell asks.

That glazed look on her face is suddenly gone. The redhead looks straight at him. "It's a job," she hisses. "They're going to pay us a lot of money. You would've done the same."

"You're probably right, except I would've gotten the job done. Now you're here, your friends are knocked out, one of them's dead. That money ain't coming your way. So why don't you just tell me what they want?"

It's so quiet you could hear a pen drop. A click of a computer mouse would sound like a nuclear explosion in here.

"They want the members of Silver Bullet dead. Don't ask me why, I don't know. When someone promises you that much money you don't ask why, you just do it. We sent Silver Bullet a false job asking them to steal memory cards. The girl showed up here yesterday, but she got away."

"Obviously," I mutter. Her eyes snap up and stare at me.

"So you just follow orders blindly?" Dell asks.

The redhead shrugs. "Nothing in this city is free, you need money to survive. And you're telling me you've never drank the Kool-Aid before?"

"No, I haven't. Doing what you're told is stupid, especially when it comes to the megacorporation. Nobody's ever seen one of their employees, not a single one." Dell grabs her shoulders and looks straight into her eyes. "You were set up. They were never going to pay you. Next time you need to think before you get involved in a job like this."

She pushes his hands away and wipes her eyes. I think she's crying. "There won't be a next time," she mumbles. Her long, white fingers pick up the gun on the floor, the one Dell used to kill her friend. "I failed my mission, he's dead, and this place sucks." Click, she loads another bullet. "That computer we promised you, the one with the dual processor, it's in the back. I figured that if you guys ended up killing me and my gang you could have it as a consolation prize. You deserve it, so go get it." No one moves. "Just leave and let me kill myself in peace."

"How did they contact you?" Dell asks as if he hasn't heard a thing. This chick's about to commit suicide and he asks her another question, what's wrong with him?

The redhead laughs. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She throws her backpack onto the ground in front of her. "It's in there. Now go away already."

"Thank you," Dell replies. Then he and Len start walking off towards the back rooms. I turn away too, just as she pulls the trigger and her head flies off every which way. That beautiful red hair lies scattered on the floor, like when a pigeon hits a window and explodes in a flurry of feathers. As I go to pick up the backpack, I try my best not to look at her headless body sprawled out on the concrete. But I can't help it.

VY2 whispers, "I look at her and I feel sad, why?"

"Rin, get over here." That's Len's voice.

I run towards him. It's dark in this backroom. Boxes and stacks of paper are piled up everywhere. The red-haired girl really hadn't been lying, a computer sits on a desk in the middle of the room. Large and silver with hundreds of blinking lights and three different screens. I hear Len say, "How are we gonna take this home?"

"Open it," Dell suddenly says to me. He's pointing at the backpack.

"Um, ok," is my response. Inside I find more ammo, a Walkman, and, here's what we're looking for, a Portola. "They sent her a hologram," I say. The Portola is round, smaller than a compact disc, and black. It's like a flattened sphere, buttons covering its left side. Press play and let's see what happens.

A transparent, cone-shaped grid emerges from the top. It's yellow, the color of cyberspace. The pixels flash through the air, forming into a black cube. Some hologram. The black cube grows until it's the size of a dice. It is suspended in the yellow haze, spinning slowly. It speaks.

"Hello, Ms. CUL," it begins, sounding like a million different voices talking at once, a million different voices screaming and crying. CUL, that must have been the redhead's name. "We know of your gang, we know who you are. You know who we are. We would like you to do something for us. Kill the members of the hacker group, Silver Bullet. You will be compensated, trust us. Reply in forty-eight hours. We're looking forward to your cooperation, CUL."

Once again, silence. We're all crowded around it, pressed so close together that our faces are almost touching. Our breath floats through the small cone of cyberspace. I'm staring right through it, at Dell's face. Our eyes lock. His red ones aren't so terrifying anymore. So soft and red, I want to smile. Little pixels zoom past his pupils and onto his cheeks. It looks like it's snowing diamonds. This moment is beautiful. I feel like I'm drowning in it. Can we just stay here forever?

The Portola suddenly begins to beep. "Is it getting another message?" Len asks. But no one has time to answer his question. The black cube speaks again.

"This isn't Ms. CUL." The cube sounds angry. "It seems you are not dead yet, members of Silver Bullet." The voice pauses for a moment.

"What do you want?" Len shouts.

"It can't hear you," I tell him. "Be quiet and listen."

The cube starts again. "But it is all right, you will all die eventually. We know what you are trying to do. You need to stop. You will never succeed. He cannot be found. You will never find him, you will never destroy him. Give up now or die later. And by the way, stay away from Ring01. He is a dangerous man."

That beautiful moment from before? It's gone. The cube vanishes along with the yellow piece of cyberspace and now it is dark. The only light comes from my electric blue eyes. Dell is still staring at me. Can't think, all I see is the name Ring01 flashing in front of my eyes.

Ring01, the only person to ever hack into the megacorporation's mainframe. Said to be a former employee who decided to expose the lies and corruption, he leaked hundreds of files onto the LiveWire and the Wire too. People began to ask questions, some began to fear the megacorporation. It lasted for a month, then all of the leaked information vanished, along with Ring01. It was like he had never existed. Every article, blog post, and message pertaining to him was erased, deleted with the press of a single button. He was gone, blown away in an unseen wind and soon all of the uproar and doubt blew over too. Only those in the underground remember him. Five years ago this happened, five years ago I decided to leave my family and live in the underground city. He's the reason I left. I had finally seen something, a reality where people can overcome authority and stand against the evil. People always said that the megacorporation's firewall was impenetrable. Only the best black hat hacker in the world could break through it. And then somebody did break through, and I found hope. Ring01, my hero, the unsung martyr of the underground. Is he the man standing across from me? Staring right at me with his dark red eyes?

"The most famous hacker ever. You're him," Len whispers. A pause, then he jumps up and starts running his hands through his hair. "This is amazing! Everyone thinks that you're dead, but you're not! You're here, alive. Do you know how many people look up to you, how many people idolize you, Dell?"

"Do not call me an idol," Dell roars. "Ring01 is an idiot who screwed up his life and accomplished nothing."

"He's you!" I shout. I can't contain myself any longer. Anger, hurt, surprise, an overwhelming amount joy, every emotion possible is building up inside me. "Why didn't you tell me, Dell? You lied to me!"

"You don't have to cry about it!" He yells. A gust of air slaps my face as he swipes his arm across my outstretched hands, knocking the Portola onto the floor. This isn't the man who rescued me from the canal and carried my bike down the steep stairs. This is Ring01. I can see why he decided to vanish.

"Why are you so mean?" I say. Great, I sound like a bratty little kid. Now I notice the tears sliding down my face. Thick pearly tears the color of the smog filled sky. "You're such a jerk...dad." My hand flies up to cover my mouth. Dell looks at me, his mouth slack, his eyes glistening.

"You called me dad."

"I-I didn't mean to. You just reminded me of him for a second, that's all!" My voice is half-choked with tears. Wiping my cheeks and seeing black on my fingertips, I realize that my eyeliner is running. Probably look like a wreck right now. I look down at my hands. Len's arms comes around me, but I don't want him right now.

It's like Dell can read my mind. He comes forward and embraces me. Strong arms wrap around my entire being. I'm safe now; he isn't so scary after all. I bury my head in his chest like a scared child and close my eyes. Then he kisses the top of my head and says, "My daughter died five years ago; I'm so happy I found you, Rin."

"Died?"

"Yeah, she and my wife. They were murdered after I started leaking information about the megacorporation. I came home one day and all the doors were locked. I broke in and found them there, dead. Carbon monoxide poisoning."

"They made me do it!" VY2's voice is small.

"And they cut off your hand too, as punishment." I back up and look at him. He nods. My fingers grab his metal hand, run over the knuckles and hold the palm like I'm holding something made of glass. People actually did this to him. Sliced off his hand like it was a piece of bread, threaded the nerves through a poorly made piece of scrap metal. And now every time it moves, he feels pain. "They shouldn't get away with this."

"But they do, sadly," Dell replies. "Now answer this question. What is it that you're trying to do? The megacorporation knows you're up to something, what is it?"

I look askance at Len. He's just standing there, his hands shoved in his pockets, this blank look on his face. Some help he'll be. Should I tell Dell about the deep, dark secret that sleeps within my skull and the promise I made to it all those years ago? I trust Dell, he could help us. Yes, I'll tell him. He's Ring01, after all. Go on; take a deep breath, Rin. Then the words begin to flow like electricity through a wire.

"Five years ago, I was nine, sitting in my apartment on the mid-level. My father was on his computer, Mom was watching television with my brother, Rei. I was on my laptop, and I had finally been invited to join the LiveWire. It's a lot different from the Wire, no rules or restrictions. People are constantly raising hell left and right; it's amazing. I found a story about you, Dell. By then you had already disappeared, but your legacy was still there, scattered throughout the LiveWire. The second I finished reading it, he spoke to me, VY2, inside my head."

"Inside your head?" Dell repeats. "VY2 communicates with you?"

"He always has. Ever since I can remember. He told me that I 'pique his interest.'" I shrug and laugh a bit. "Don't know what that means, but he's come in handy over the years. You see, the second I finished reading that story he said, 'Things like this wouldn't happen if I wasn't here. Promise me, Rin, that someday, when you get the chance, you will kill me. Because I can't kill myself and I feel so helpless.' I made a promise, Dell. Even though I hate him, he trusts me." I look down at my hands; they're covered in black smudges of melted eyeliner. Looks like blood. All of a sudden I notice that sharp iron smell that fills the air around me. It is the stench of blood, blood from the decapitated girl lying on the cold floor, blood from the mercenary lying straight on his face. I feel so cold.

VY2 settles down and rests behind my eyes. "Don't be scared," he tells me. I nod.

Now I'm looking up at Dell. I am not afraid. "I will never break the promise I made to VY2."

Dead silence. So quiet you could hear the click of a mouse. Dell's eyes are unmoving, stuck like glue. Something's going on inside his head. He's changing. His pupils constrict, this serious, almost arrogant look washes over his face. A ripple goes up through his body like he's being electrocuted. Energy rises. I am looking at the real face of Ring01.

"You want to kill VY2?" he asks in that strange voice of his. Feel my head move up and down, like I'm a puppet and someone's pulling the string. "And you want me to help you do this?" I nod again.

"You could help us change the world." Those words come from Len; he's standing next to me now, looking strong. "Come on, Dell. Finish what you started."

Dell laughs. "Either of you ever read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?" Me and Len shake our heads. "Young people these days, nobody reads anymore!" Dell exclaims. He starts pacing across the room, talking more to himself than to us. "Well it's a book, written on real paper in real ink. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but that's how it was in the old days. So it's the story of this guy named Frankenstein, and he builds this monster. It's funny cause nowadays a Frankenstein is someone who's more machine than man. But Frankenstein was just a regular human, no artificial limbs or anything. Anyways, all of this other stuff happens in the story, but the point is that the monster kills this guy's family and ends up killing him too. He's killed by his own creation. Ring01 is my creation. Because of him, my wife and daughter are dead, I basically no longer exist. I'm just a homeless guy who sleeps on a bench somewhere on Snivitz Street. That's where 'changing the world' gets you, kids. You end up alone and minus a hand."

"Well wasn't that just a wonderful speech!" VY2 shouts in my head. "Tell him he's an idiot, Rinny!"

"VY2 thinks you're an idiot, Dell."

A sarcastic laugh. "I bet he does. And I agree with him."

"You shouldn't. You're a smart man, Dell, not an idiot. By helping us you'd be doing the whole city a favor. There's a reason why you rescued me from that canal. It wasn't just a coincidence. You have an opportunity here, take it."

He stares right through me. I swear he can read minds. "I don't believe in coincidence, so you don't have to tell me that," he says quietly. "And I think I will take it. I'd be an idiot not to."


	7. Chapter 7

"That's a lot to take in. I almost regret not going with you guys."

I almost laugh. "No you don't." I'm back at Silver Bullet, sitting across from Kiyoteru. My legs are up in my seat, a Chinese take-out box resting between my knees. I slowly raise the chopsticks to my mouth; don't want to get any Lo Mein on my Van Halen shirt.

"You're probably right. But still, I wish important things didn't always happen when I'm not there." He leans back in the rolling chair and adjusts his glasses. "I can't believe that he's Ring01. Everyone down here worships him. We have a celebrity living in our house. And yet, I thought he'd be…"

"Different?" I offer, a smirk on my face.

"Different to say the least. He's nothing like I imagined Ring01 to be. He's immature, awkward..."

"And yet he's still the greatest hacker in the world," I cut in again. For some reason, I don't like it when Kiyoteru criticizes Dell. And he does it quite a lot.

"Very true," Kiyoteru sighs. It's quiet for a moment. I pick up a noodle and watch it slide through the chopsticks, slowly, like a snake through a tree branch. Kiyoteru rolls over to the doorway and yells, "Everyone needs to get in here right now!"

There's a pounding of feet and then Len, Dell, and Gumi are standing in the room with us, looking rather annoyed.

"I was in the middle of something," Gumi says, waving her half-painted nails in Kiyoteru's face.

He rolls his grey eyes. "Sit down, Gumi." After they are all seated, he clears his throat. "Ok, so a lot happened today. We found out that our friend Dell here is the long lost Ring01, that the megacorporation knows we're trying to destroy its prized puppet, and that it's not a good idea to run through Hal Square at two in the afternoon." He shoots me an evil look. "Anyways, at least we got a rad new computer out of all of this."

That sick, shining dual processor computer is in the corner of the room. We found a dolly in the warehouse and somehow managed to roll it down the narrow alleyways without being noticed. The main roads are so crowded in the evening; nobody pays attention to what goes on in the alleys.

"So now we have to figure out what we're going to do," Kiyoteru continues.

"You said that if we ever had the upper hand we would really try to take down VY2," I say almost accusingly.

"Yeah, I know. But it's a lot to process. We don't even know where to start."

"A lot to process?" VY2 exclaims. "He has a computer for a brain, what an idiot!"

Everyone is suddenly staring at me. Why? What'd I do? Wait, VY2 didn't say that inside my head, he said it out loud, in front of everyone. He actually spoke, said something out in the real world. All of our eyes are fixed, staring off into space at some unseen vanishing point. We're looking for the source.

Len and Gumi look terrified.

Dell, petrified.

And Kiyoteru just looks confused.

No one says anything; no one can fill the void VY2 has created.

"It's coming," Dell begins, "from the radio right there." His slowly raises his finger and points at the Panasonic radio sitting on the table. It's like a face, the living face of VY2.

"Can everyone hear me?" VY2 asks.

"Yeah, we can hear you. Actually hear you, like you're standing here in this room," Kiyoteru snaps.

Something feels wrong. It's like they can all hear the voice inside my head. Hear my thoughts, my secrets. I almost feel violated.

"Wow, I never knew I could do this!" VY2 exclaims. "I've never tried communicating through electronic devices before. Well, now that I'm here, let's starts discussing our plan of action!"

"Our?" Len is been sitting with his chin in his hands, looking at the radio with a fire in his blue eyes. "You're a computer. You're the thing we're trying to get rid of. You can't just waltz in here and start ordering us around."

"I'm not ordering," VY2 says. "And you have a computer inside that thick skull of yours, just so you know. The only difference between you and me is that I don't have a body."

"Robots and computers are not the same," Len mumbles.

"Ok, whatever you say. What do I know? I'm just the computer that controls the entire city!"

"And you're doing a sucky job of it," Dell cuts in. "Enough arguing, we're not a bunch of kids fighting over whether Mario is better than Donkey Kong."

"You can't order us around either, Dell," Len growls. He sounds like a tiger. "How can any of us trust you? You used to work for the megacorporation!"

"Who cares? They killed my wife and my daughter; you really think I'd still be on their side, you moron!?" Dell shouts. His deep voice is booming, like thunder. It fills the whole room, echoes against my skull. Gumi's holding her ears.

"Humans get angry so easily!" VY2 says, laughter in his voice. "Arguing bothers me, so stop. I'll show you something really cool if you do."

"You're the one who needs to stop!" Dell yells. He walks over to the table, picks up the radio and throws it onto the ground. He throws it so hard that it explodes like a grenade. Fragments of metal scatter, one cuts his cheek; I can see the blood well and then began to flow down his face, just like tears. It's dead quiet, I hear nothing but Dell's ragged breathing and Gumi's subdued whimpers.

Then: "Nice try, I was almost scared for a moment." VY2's calm, calculating voice comes from a bit of broken speaker. "You can't kill me that easily, Ring01. But maybe you could if I looked human, like you. Back up."

Dell takes two massive steps back. His eyes are black holes.

Now a sound emits from the radio. High pitched ringing and static, hundreds of distant computers simultaneously booting up, running their hardware to the breaking point, explosions of sounds and color streaming through that tiny speaker.

VY2's voice accelerates, then slows down. What's happening to him? I walk forward, drawn towards this cacophonous sound like metal to a magnet. Feels like I'm in another dream. Half expecting the floor to fall away, my whole world stretched out in a fit of vertigo. Pixels of color pop into existence all around me. Diamond raindrops fall and disappear, deleted as they slowly descend. Codes and squares of color flash faster and faster, closer and closer together. I'm walking into this storm not even knowing what's happening. The pixels come together, forming a shadowy figure. They turn together as one and then a human form begins taking shape. Pale, pink hair that falls gently in front of golden eyes. White skin, thin lips, it's a boy. It's VY2. He's taller than I am and has this expression on his face that almost scares me. I don't know if he's about to laugh or hit me.

"VY2," I whisper. I'm standing right in front of him, looking up at those hawk-like eyes.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

I almost jump. His voice. It sounds nothing like it does in my head, or in my dreams. It's raspy, playful, actually pretty hot. But of course he made himself sound this way, he's a computer, he can do anything.

"How?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I can multitask really well, I guess. So I'll be able to maintain this form for however long I like, maybe even forever."

"If things work out here, you'll be dead before forever rolls around," Len snorts.

I ignore him and walk towards VY2. Funny, Len's voice is fading. It grows dimmer and dimmer as I get closer to VY2. Something is happening to me, I'm being drawn in like a satellite into orbit. No, Rin, walk away. You hate him, remember?

I ignore that voice, too. "You're just a projection," I say more to myself than to VY2.

"Just a projection," he repeats, his voice barely a whisper. He takes a step forward, glaring at me like he's trying to figure out what to say, what to do. Long, white fingers take my hand and press it against his chest. Can feel his skin beneath the t-shirt, his body is trembling. "Just a projection," he says again, shaking his head. "Can a projection do this?"

And then he grabs my face and he…he kisses me. I can feel my eyes widen. Want to fight back, to push him away, but I can't. I can't do it; I don't want to do it. Time has stopped. Not really, but it feels that way. This moment is scary, unnerving, I feel him shaking under my fingertips; and yet it is also kind of amazing and eye-opening. Energy flows through my nervous system, not the electric kind of power that comes from Len, a different kind. One that originates in a hidden place, a clandestine world of computer souls and self-awareness, true identities and millions of roving minds, all looking for one thing. Self-worth. I feel his loneliness, his passion for reality, for humanity, for me. That deep desire to just be considered real, and a question. What ever happened to the golden calf after it was returned to the fire? Where did it go?

"Please answer me, Rin," he whispers in my brain. "Nobody wants to be an idol, least of all me."

"I know," I reply. And then I open my eyes and he's still standing there. I was half hoping that he was just a dream.

A dream, just like the ones I have every night. And every night I wake up and get the feeling that he's watching me, because he really is. And then I feel horrified, scared? No, I feel comforted, just like I do right now, comforted by his piercing eyes that are slowly fading from my vision…

I blink, and this is what VY2 is saying:

"I can multitask really well, I guess. So I'll be able to maintain this form for however long I like, maybe even forever."

"If things work out here, you'll be dead before forever rolls around," Len snorts.

Wait, he just said that like five seconds ago. I whip my head around, looking from person to person, wondering if they're thinking the same thing, too. What the heck is this, déjà vu?

"Rin, what's wrong?" Kiyoteru says. "You look confused. Did he do something to you?"

I almost jump. I've forgotten that there are other people here. Does VY2 really have that much power over me? To drag me away from reality like a fish on a reel and never let me go. Now that I look around, I notice everyone's eyes are on me and VY2. Did they not just see him kiss me?

"Hang on," I say. "Just, just tell me what we were talking about."

Kiyoteru rolls his eyes. "You need to pay attention, seriously, Rin. You just asked VY2 how he was able to, uh, materialize in the middle of our house, and he gave you his extremely vague answer that explains nothing and Len just made an ignorant comment, that's all."

"But nothing happened? Like, you guys didn't just see something happen?"

"No." Kiyoteru sounds irritated. "Do I have to explain it all again?" He leans against his desk and starts muttering to himself. "Geez…can't even focus at a time like this."

I'm too confused to think of a comeback. Here I am, looking like an idiot as I stand in the middle of the floor, trying to piece this together. Glancing up at VY2, I mouth, "What did you do?"

He's smiling at me, his hands in his pockets as he rocks back and forth on his heels. One of those golden eyes winks. "It didn't just feel like time stopped," he says inside my mind. "I mean, I am a supercomputer, I do have some power…"

My eyeballs are about to fall out of my head. There's no way; he has to be lying.

"Come on, Rinny. You know how long I've waited to kiss you. I wasn't going to let Len see, he'd be so angry!" His eyes suddenly narrow. "But he makes me angry when he cheats on you, Rin. You deserve better, you deserve me." All at once, every trace of anger melts away from his face. "Now smile, and pretend that nothing happened! Oh, and I want to let you know, it was everything I'd thought it be and more."

He looks away and just like that, our mental conversation is over. The others are crowding around, marveling at VY2. They really didn't see anything.

Run my fingers across my lips, taste the static on my tongue. So, our first kiss had been everything and more?

"Same here," I mutter to the air around me. "Same here."

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this shorter chapter. I was thinking about it, and I decided it would be interesting to ask you guys what time period you think Rin is living in? This is an alternate history/cyberpunk story, and there have been some subtle clues throughout hinting at what era this is. Whoever guesses the EXACT date will get a one-shot from yours truly ^^. **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Ok, sorry this is so short. For some reason chapter 7 isn't showing up, even after I uploaded it and reuploaded and continued to reupload it! So maybe adding a new chapter will work...I don't know what the logic is behind thinking this will work lol. But it was fun to write. Next couple of chapters will be considerably longer. Enjoy...and I hope you guys can actually see this chapter lol. **

* * *

Everyone is huddled around us now, poking VY2 and asking a million questions. Dell's hulking form appears behind VY2, hidden in shadow, and then he slaps him on the head.

"Look at that, I _could_ kill you if I hit hard enough," he says coolly. VY2's laughing though, like Dell just tickled him or something. He rubs the back of his head and his eyes widen when his hand comes away bloody. Man, Dell hit him hard.

"Wow, I actually felt that! I've never felt pain before," VY2 says.

Dell cracks his knuckles. "You wanna feel it again?" he starts, but I jump between them faster than you can send an email.

"Ok, ok, that's enough, you guys. This is a good thing. VY2 being here is a good thing."

"I don't see how," Kiyoteru says. Len and Dell both agree.

"With him here, we can finally work on taking him down," I say. "He knows the megacorporation better than any of us, and who better to help us crack the new firewalls? I mean, how many victims would actually help their murderer murder them?" That last part makes me laugh.

"But he's not the victim," Dell says through gritted teeth.

"I am so the victim!" VY2 whines. Dell starts walking towards him with his fist in the air, saying something about breaking faces and where he's gonna send VY2 if he doesn't shut up, but Gumi stands up.

"Rin's right," she says. Her voice is different too. Doesn't sound like an airhead anymore. It's the voice she probably used before she met us, when she was a con artist. Calm, but demanding, motherly, yet intimidating. Her green eyes glint. "It's a good thing. We want him dead and he wants to die, it's the perfect equation. There's no need to argue with him. VY2's just a puppet. Our real enemy is the puppeteer."

"Well said." It's Kiyoteru. He stands up and readjusts his glasses. "We cannot forget who the enemy is. So if we're going to do this, we'll have to work together, and once you're in you can't get back out, do you all understand?" We all nod. "All right then, that's how it's going to be."

"So what do we do now?" Len asks. It's quiet, none of us really know.

"How about I start," Dell says suddenly. "I don't want anyone not trusting me," a glance at Len, "so I'll let you guys in on a secret. You'll be the first to hear my personal autobiography: Working for the Devil, the Dell Honne story!"

"I love stories!" VY2 says excitedly. "Especially ones written by George Orwell, his book 1984—"

"Bag your face and sit down," Len orders. VY2 plops down on the tile with his legs up and his chin resting on his knees.

We all huddle around Dell like kids around a campfire. I close my eyes; I want to picture the story as he tells it. Hear him take a deep breath, then he starts:

"I was born here thirty-five years ago. Back then the city actually had a name, but I don't remember what it was. New something, I think, but that doesn't matter. So I grew up here, watched everything change. It was like technology started moving faster than people. One day we had a typewriter and the next we had a chemical computer. People stopped reading books, man, that's what really made me sad. I love books. And then all of a sudden the city was a sprawling metropolis with three entirely different levels. If you were a criminal, you went to the underground, if you were a richie you lived at the top, and the normal people, the easiest to control, just stayed on the midlevel, where it's safe.

'I didn't really care about all the changes at the time; all I cared about was my computer. My parents were slow on accepting the new wave of technology. They thought it was nothing but a waste of time and money, but I finally convinced them to buy me one. I met people while I was on the computer, people who said they lived in the low-level. They told me that those on the upper level were trying to control everyone else. They told me that the new corporation, the one without a name, was trying to control the city. I heard rumors of a supercomputer that they were building deep within that big, black building. I heard them, but I wasn't afraid. On the contrary, I was in awe. I wanted to find this supercomputer; people said it had the intelligence of a human being. So I joined a hacking group called Grimoire. Their goal was to leak information about this supercomputer. We tried to break the megacorporation's firewalls, but as time passed and they became more powerful, it became nearly impossible. The megacorporation began monitoring every click, every keystroke. They didn't like it that people were conspiring against them, so they created the Wire. Information exchanged on the Wire is monitored; you can't ask questions, you can't criticize anyone on the upper level. As all of us here know, the LiveWire was eventually created. An underground version of the Wire that only invited members could access. The megacorporation hasn't bothered to shut it down yet, or maybe they really can't. But no matter what the reason, it's still here. It evolves with the Wire. When it became possible to physically enter the Wire it also became possible to enter the LiveWire. They're like twins, one of them good and one evil. But it's really up to you to decide which is which.'

'But I'm getting off track. The Wire is the reason I decided to become a megacorporation employee. It bothered me that I couldn't access the information I wanted, and I wanted to find a way through it. So I started getting jobs at smaller corporations. I worked at Green Lightening, Emerald Bay, and Windermere before I got a job at the megacorporation. While I was busy building my resume, you, VY2, had already come into existence. It was like you just appeared overnight, literally. I went to bed one night and the next day you were there. It didn't take long for the people to begin viewing you as some kind of god. The corporations outlawed religion years ago, but suddenly they were allowing people to worship this all powerful machine that kept the city alive and made people's lives easier. When I went to work for the megacorporation, I discovered that you were just an intelligent software program being used and manipulated by your creators. I don't pity you; I just wonder why they gave you a free will.'

'Anyways, I finally got the job at twenty years old. And then I married the girl of my dreams, Yufu Sekka. Beautiful, with long silver hair, pretty grey eyes. We had known each other since we were kids. A year later we had our first and only child, Ring. That's where my screen name came from. The one part, I don't even know how I thought of that, probably just my favorite number at the time. I'm off track again. So, I kept working for the megacorporation. I worked as a hacker who helped find any holes in their security system. Ironic, huh? There were a few other jobs I held, but hacking was my favorite. And no, I won't say what those other jobs were. No, I don't care what you call me Len, I'm not. Back to my story now. Geez, I'm pouring out my soul here, the least you could do is listen. Anyhow, I worked and worked and then I turned thirty and everything fell apart. The you-know-what hit the fan. I began to realize that the megacorporation was evil, truly evil. Not just greedy, but wicked and devious. They were killing people just for fun. One day I stumbled upon a room in the basement. The employees weren't allowed down there. But what I saw, it was horrible. Can't even describe it to you guys. Yes, it's because you're too young, now be quiet. What I saw made me want to expose the megacorporation's corruption. Since I was their hacker, breaking into their database wasn't hard. But it still took me awhile. I became obsessed with exposing them. I would lock myself in my room for hours. Ignore my wife, my daughter, my whole family. Well you all know what happened after I leaked all of that info. I came home, Yufu and Ring were dead. The end."

"That's a horrible story," Gumi whimpers. Thick, pearly tears glisten in her large, green eyes.

"But what about your hand? You didn't explain that," Len says.

VY2 grabs one of the prosthetic fingers and moves it up and down, like he's pulling at the wing of a dragonfly. "The robot's right. That should be a very interesting story," he says with a crooked smile on his face.

"Fine." Dell heaves and sigh and walks over to where Kiyoteru is sitting. "You can't feel pain right?"

"Um, no I can't."

"Good, I'm using you for demonstration purposes." Dell grabs Kiyoteru and slams him down on the table. "All right, everyone, observe. They knocked me out after I walked in and saw my wife and daughter dead, and when I woke up, I was lying flat on my face on a metal table." He stretches out Kiyoteru's left arm. "They took my hand, spread the fingers like so." Kiyoteru's fingers are like the legs of some ghostly spider, long and white. "Then they took a saw, one of those jagged bone saws and did this with the back of it." He takes his finger and slides it over Kiyoterus's knuckles, one by one. "Taunting me. They waited for a few moments while I lay there, then placed those teeth on my fingers and started cutting them off, one joint at a time. Snap, snap, snap, gone! Except it didn't happen that fast."

"That sounds extremely painful," Kiyoteru says.

"Yeah, it was. And after the hand was off they fished out my nerve endings and threaded them through this piece of junk they consider a prosthetic."

"And that sounds worse than the initial amputation of the hand," VY2 pipes up. "And just so you know, I had nothing to do with that. After all, I am just a, what'd you call me? Oh yeah, an 'intelligent software program.'"

"Yeah, yeah, I never thought it was you anyways. Oh, and I'm done with my story now. So that's it." He releases Kiyoteru and sits back down.

"Thanks for telling us, Dell," I say quietly.

"You're welcome. Thanks for trusting me."

There's that annoying silence again. I just can't stand it, because madness comes from silence. That's why this city is so crazy, it's too quiet. Maybe that's why we all talk so much in low-level; because once we stop, you hear nothing. So I open my mouth, so do the others, and we talk.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: All right, here is a significantly longer chapter than the previous two. Virtual hugs to reviewers! Thanks to all who've followed this story so far. Special thanks to Nerumi H for her continued support on this story and others! Enjoy :D.**

* * *

I hold a pair of skimpy, gold and black shorts in front of my face. Can't tell if they're made of spandex or nylon, or what. All I know is that they are short.

"Why do I have to wear these?"

"It's the style. You can't go to a LiveWire party looking like a total Goth," Gumi answers.

"I'm not a Goth," I mutter, but it's no use. It was her idea to go to this thing and now there's no way out of it. Stupid Gumi. While we were in the front room, discussing our game plan, she had brought up one of her old friends, SeeU, this feisty, cat-eared girl who spends all of her time on the LiveWire. She doesn't need to eat or sleep, she just plays.

"She's a thief. She might have some really rare hardware that we could use!" Gumi told us. And it's true; cyber thieves usually have a lot of genuine, one-of-a-kind products. But this chick lives in cyberspace; I'm not too big of a fan.

Kiyoteru teases me sometimes, asking why I'm even a hacker if I hate going on the LiveWire. I like trading information, writing code and all of that boring stuff.

"Don't be boring!" Gumi told me.

And now I'm getting ready for one of those stupid raver parties where everyone is nameless and goes by something dumb and cliché screen name like Rambo999 or MaterialGrl4Life. At least my screen name doesn't force me to abandon my dignity.

But who goes? That was the question. The portal we own is a Gateway model, so it's a little antiquated and it only allows four people to enter the LiveWire at a time. Kiyoteru's automatically out. No questions there. He never leaves the house. Gumi's in because SeeU's her friend, I'm in because, well just because, and now there's three people left.

And only two more can go. Dell has to come. If he doesn't, I refuse to go. Len and VY2 are left. A vicious fight breaks out, hair pulling and punching, VY2's head being slammed into my closet door. Why we're in my room to begin with I don't know. While VY2 marvels at the blood on his hands, we take a vote. Len wins. I don't raise my hand for either of them.

Before I go to get ready, VY2 pulls me aside and whispers, "It's all right that I can't go. I'm always with you, you know that, Rin."

While anyone else may have found this creepy, I find it kind of sweet. "I know," I mutter. He's so close to me, his pink hair brushing my forehead. Now he's grabbing my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. My face starts burning.

"I'm sorry," he says with a shy smile. "I've just waited so long to actually feel you, and now I can. It's just so nice, to feel human contact for the first time." He drops my hand and laughs. "Especially since I'm not human."

"I, uh, I've got to get dressed," I say, pulling away. Can't deal with this right now, not after that kiss. Stupid conflicted emotions, being fourteen really sucks.

VY2 sighs. "Oh, all right, Rinny. But this isn't over, right? To be continued?"

I'm guessing "this" is our imaginary love inside his head. Or maybe it's our relationship…wait, what relationship? It was just a kiss! I groan and run my hands down my face. And then, for reasons unknown, I say, "Fine, to be continued."

VY2 jumps up and down in delight. "Works for me! It's better than game over!"

Now I'm getting dressed, and I push all thoughts of VY2 out of my mind.

Apparently, you're supposed to go all out for these parties, dress in neon and cybernetic gear, embrace technology, become one with it. Gumi is wearing this strapless circuit board dress. Her many tattoos are now visible, flashing lines of circuitry embedded with color changing ink. There's a group of numbers on her right arm, blue and yellow zeroes intermingled with sevens. On her back, a pair of mechanical angel wings glitters against her skin. They shine and shimmer; the feathers appear to actually move, grass blades bending in the breeze. My favorite one is on her neck, wrapped around like a collar, a pair of headphones carved into her skin. They're silver and gold and look so real. I want a tattoo, but I don't know what it would look like. Her lime green hair is piled high, with pink extensions and wires jutting out from her head.

I look down at Gumi's shoes. She is wearing lace up boots with a curved heel that hooks back like a claw. She's walking on her toes because they have no soles. Her bare feet are propped up and she's standing on tiptoe. Her toenails are painted toxic green. They change to blue every time she taps her foot. How does she walk in those shoes? Can I even consider them shoes?

This question still haunts as I put on my outfit. These shorts aren't that bad. They're black with sparkly gold stripes on the sides. My shirt is black and gold too. It has thick straps and blends almost perfectly into my shorts so that it's like I'm wearing a jumpsuit. Gumi let me borrow this platinum belt that doubles as a portable keyboard. I'm wearing my mood sensitive gloves and these pair of leather boots that go up so high they might as well be pants. Not going to change my hair, it is what it is.

"You look fine," Len says when he sees me. He's wearing this black uniform jacket that reacts to touch. I poke his stomach and a ripple of energy goes up though the jacket. Flows like water.

"Nice jacket," I reply. "You too, Dell."

"Oh, thanks. It's the only thing Len has that fits me." It's one of those white hoodies with the soft, glowing lights sewn into the material. He's got the hood up and looks like one of those ancient monks.

We're all looking at each other with wary eyes. Mine wander towards Dell's jacket, staring at the slowly swirling lights that pulse like individually beating hearts. Speaking of hearts, if you close your eyes and listen you can hear the mechanical hum coming from Len and Gumi's chests. Extremely faint, but it's there. I still hear it as we walk across the hall.

There's this room behind a door in Gumi's office. Almost built into the wall and hidden like a cave behind a veiled waterfall. When she touches the door it slides open, an eyelid opening in the darkness. The lights automatically flick on; the floor ripples beneath us when her foot hits the tile. In the center of the room is the Gateway. It rises up from the silver floor, a metallic island floating endlessly in a mercury sea, glowing like a dying light bulb. Four pod-like structures, portals we call them, fan out around the Gateway's base. The pods are curved and smooth to the touch. My flesh tingles when I lay my hand on one.

Looking around me, I see hundreds of wires hanging from the ceiling, sprouting out from holes in the wall and creeping across the tile like vines. They choke the bottom of the Gateway, wrapping around it with their slippery multicolored bodies. For a moment, they seem to be alive, wriggling little snakes infesting the machine. Listen. You can hear them inside, like parasites inside a body. Squirming, sickening, they gurgle as they slowly inch their way up the Gateway. If I lay down inside one of the portals will they infest me too? I can just imagine them boring into my skin as I lay there. Unknowing, trapped inside the LiveWire while they eat away at my brain.

"Rin, get inside." Gumi is looking at me with slight annoyance in her eyes. I suddenly realize that everyone is already inside.

I just nod and step towards an empty portal. You have to lie on your side in these things, curled up in a fetal position with your hands secured by metal clasps. Then you put the helmet on, this array of wires and neurons that molds to your skull and sticks to your temples. I hear that faint popping sound as it suctions to my head. If I roll my eyes up to the back of my head, I can see Gumi punching commands into the Gateway's keyboard. Then she lies down in her own portal and now it's time to wait. A rev like a car engine, then the metal around me becomes hot. I know what's coming next, and I hate it. This needle comes out from the end of one of the wires and pricks my neck. My eyes roll forward and then back again and my eyelids snap shut.

* * *

How can I explain entering the LiveWire? Like walking down the street and being hit by an ice cream truck, that's it. You're just minding your own business and then you hear the noise. It's coming down the road, you hear it, but you don't move. Then you realize what the sound is and go running towards it. This isn't just any ordinary truck. Running and running and this glorious vehicle enveloped in a shining halo of light finally appears. You see neon lights, that giant ice cream cone on top and two blinding headlights. You're so excited; this is what you've been waiting for! And then it gets closer and you realize that it's not stopping and it strikes you and flattens you like a pancake and you can't breathe for a moment as you choke on your own blood and then you open your eyes again and you're there.

I gasp and stagger forward. Strong hands pull me back. It's Dell.

"Careful, now," he tells me. I nod and shake my head simultaneously, trying to shake that feeling from my head. The feeling that my brain's just been reflated.

"I hate the LiveWire," I mutter. Turning to Dell I say, "You seem so calm, didn't that freak you out?"

"I've been on the LiveWire a few times before. Doesn't scare me like it used to."

"Well it still scares me." I rub my eyes and look around. "Where are the others?"

"Behind you."

I turn around and Len and Gumi are standing there. Len's got this annoying smile on his face. "It's funny to see you freak out," he tells me. Stupid idiot. I don't reply, so he comes over and kisses my cheek. My angry expression doesn't change, just like the landscape around me.

Cyberspace is an interesting place. So bright and white that you almost can't see, but there's this yellow aura that pulses and throbs all around you. Standing on nothingness is equally as interesting. Maybe it's some unseen sheet of glass. But be careful where you walk, take one wrong step and you could fall into the inky white depths where the lights grow dimmer with each passing second. Only a robot can see the safe, invisible paths ahead. I'm happy Len and Gumi are here. This thought suddenly strikes me, wait a second.

"Dell, how did you navigate the LiveWire on your own?" I ask. Can't look at him, must keep my eyes on Len. Look away for one moment and I could step off the path. Who knows how wide this path even is?

"I hacked the system."

"But the layout of this place is encrypted," Len interrupts. "There's no way you could do that."

"He hacked into the megacorporation, Len."

He doesn't reply; he just snorts and keeps walking. The rest of our trek is silent, so I hum quietly to myself. White space is everywhere. The occasional line of green or blue code zooms past every once in a while, like city lights melting and conglomerating. I think of the subway train. After about a half hour of walking, I see a door. It appears out of thin air; Gumi almost smacks her face into it. It's small and black with a silver knob.

"The firewall," she states simply. I notice Dell walking around the door, sliding his feet like he's skating.

"It disappears when you look at it from behind," he says. "Wonder what happens if I touch—"

It bursts into flame the second he touches it. Dell leaps backwards, so does Len. Gumi screams, and I am as still as a statue, just glaring at the door, watching the flames consume it. I bet you could see them reflected in my eyes. Blink, and I find myself mere centimeters away from the wild flames. People are screaming in the background. Someone's telling me to step away. But I can't.

"They won't hurt you," I say. "They're not real. See?" I've got my whole arm in the flames.

"I, uh, guess you're right," Dell says with a laugh. "Look you can even jump through it."

Now I'm the one jumping back as he leaps through. The flames encompass his body, but do no harm. He's like one of those tigers that jumps through rings at a circus. Not that I've ever been to one. Gumi giggles and soon we are all jumping through the blazing door, screaming with laughter. How beautiful fire can be.

"All right, let's go through!" Gumi shouts. "SeeU put me on the whitelist, so only I can open the door." She grasps the handle, it turns with a grating noise, and when it opens I am looking into another world.

The door shuts behind me before I even realize that I'm through it. First thing that hits me, beats of music that flow through the air and strike me like electric shocks. My eyes dilate in the darkness. It's a club. Above me in golden lights is its name: Midnight Run. Beams of light cross in midair looking like streams of traffic on a highway. Some zoom past me, graze my body and leave tingling electrons on my skin. Bits of text parade across nothingness. Messages, instructions, announcements. People are dancing in the center of the room, all pushed together and moving as one creature. Everything is on fire.

My eyes are half closed, a sultry wind blows through the room, its source unknown. Probably the hard drive of some giant, glossy computer. I'm in a wonderland of dream-like proportions. Everything moves in separate frames, like some crazed animation with a strange case of psychosis. The first slide appears, followed by the next, by the next, by the next. And all the scenes mesh the gears of my mind together, like I'm in the early stages of REM sleep. Eyelids fluttering, trying to absorb this information. One wire alone can never contain enough energy to power a city, but somehow I feel like I could power the world right now. My heart threatens to implode from the sheer pressure of excitement. Did I really ever hate the LiveWire?

Someone grabs my hand and pulls me into the pulsing, swaying crowd. It's a pale hand, cold to the touch. Len's blue eyes glow even brighter in this phantom light. We shouldn't leave the others, I think, but then I see Gumi beside me, joining this chaotic party. I guess we can dance for a little while.

It's our mad dash through Hal Square, but better. We enter the dancing circle and it closes around it, like we just entered a cell. Within, there is pure adrenaline. You Spin Me Round is playing. The crowd screams in unison. People bump into me with every step, all cold bodies. This is a robot club. Some turn their heads to look at me. I hear, "hey it's a human!" But they don't sound angry, more like surprised. I laugh and move closer to Len, throwing my hands around his neck.

We move as one. Arms touching, my chin pressed up against his chest. I feel his heartbeat. The pressure of my head against his chest makes the jacket spaz. Like the ocean during a storm, waves spiking and foaming as the wind screams overhead. Its texture changes under my cheek. Now someone comes up behind me, I don't know who, but we end up dancing back to back. From the high-pitched laugh I guess it's a young girl, maybe even younger than me.

"You're not a bad dancer, for a human," she shouts over the din.

I laugh. "Oh, thanks."

Other robots are swarming around me. Being a human attracts a lot of attention here. Too bad I really don't like attention, but I dance with them anyways. The heat is making me pant. Beads of sweat are forming on my forehead. They close in around me, a feeling of claustrophobia washes over my mind.

Len rescues me. Pulling me from this whirlpool and into the open air. For some reason, I still feel claustrophobic though. Maybe it's because Len's hands are wrapped around me. He stares down at me with his fiery eyes. Music's in the background, his heartbeats in my ears, I lean forward and now we're kissing in the partial darkness. Half in the light, halfway not. That electric spark goes through me again, like someone's trying to jumpstart my body back to life. The cold skin, the blazing eyes, the way he envelopes me in a sphere of protection. Why does everyone feel like they have to protect me from something? But no matter. I'm drawn to Len like how VY2 is drawn to me…

VY2. He's always with me, even now. I've kissed Len before, so why does it feel so wrong right now? Why do I feel like I'm betraying VY2?

I pull away from Len; we're here to do a job.

"Yeah, you're right," he says without hearing me say anything. "We need to get back with Gumi. This SeeU girl might be explaining how to take down the megacorporation and we're totally missing out." He laughs.

I laugh uncomfortably, the feeling of betrayal still fresh in my mind.

We start walking around the edge of the dance floor, scanning the crowd for that unmistakable lime green hair. As we walk I see something at the center. A massive glass cylinder rises up from the floor. It's connected to the ceiling by millions of wires. Sparks fall down every once in a while. But it's not the labyrinth of circuits and wires and hardware that catches my attention. It's the person inside the cylinder. A girl is standing statue-like, her hands pressed against the glass on either side. They leave transparent handprints on the cylinder wall, slick with condensation. Little droplets of water slide down from her fingers and palm, creating channels of running water. Like tear stains on a face.

Her head is facing down. A black mask covers the top half of her face, then goes back across her head and is attached to the cylinder by about a dozen thick wires. She stands in about two feet of fluorescent green liquid. Her black, full-body suit has tubes running all over it and this green liquid is being pumped through them.

I understand now; she's channeling the energy. This girl is the club's personal DJ, the one controlling every note, every vibe. She picks the songs, she changes the lights. Her hands suddenly move, and Mr. Roboto starts playing. I see her slowly exhale. Water droplets cling to her face and hair. The lights pass by and refract through the water, just like a prism. I think of Pink Floyd. When did they form, '65? Yeah it was 1965, twenty years ago. Dell was fifteen.

Dell, Dell, wait, where is he? That beautiful scene with the lights and the girl suspended like a tiny dancer is gone. All I see is the space next to me where he should be and where he isn't. I don't even say anything to Len, I just run through the crowd, calling Dell's name.

How different it all is now. No longer am I a part of this single entity morphing and moving with the beat. I'm out of synch, pushing through clusters of people, disrupting the flow. This is so lame, where is he? And why am I so afraid?

There's a break in the music as Broken Wings starts playing. It seems so out of place in a club like this. Low, soft beats in the beginning. Really sounds like the flapping feathers of some great, lonely bird, at least to me. Maybe an albatross. The spinning lights overhead bathe the room in blue. My skin in blue, the faces of the people I pass are blue. You hear the voices sing, just like in the song. They're telling me to learn to fly again, or something like that, but I'm not really listening. I almost fall forward as I break through the crowd. Above me is a second level where people are talking and lounging on touch sensitive couches. Rivers of light flow down from the black railing, looking like a rainbow waterfall. The color's flow is disturbed by a hand that's propped up against the wall. A metal hand.

"Dell!"

The table he's sitting at shakes when I run over and grab it, almost toppling over in the process. "I didn't mean to leave you. It's just; this place is so, so hypnotizing…Dell?"

He's not replying. His head's on the table, his right hand tracing shapes in the dusty glass. The dark red eyes slide up and stare at me. "Leave me alone," he growls.

I lean over and place my chin on the table. He immediately tries to cover his face. "Are you crying?"

"Leave me alone, kid."

But I don't, I've never liked doing what I'm told. He's the one who said doing that is stupid. "What is it? Come on, I'll keep bugging you if you don't tell me. Wait, is it the song?"

I hear him sigh, yeah that's it. "Geez, you just don't stop. I've already given you an account of my entire life, what else do you want?"

"Tell me why Broken Wings makes you so sad."

Another sigh. "You have no idea how much you remind me of my daughter." There's that disheartened laugh. He writes her name in the dust, then looks back up at me. "But about that song. It reminds me of my wife, of something she used to say to me. That I was her other half, and that everything would be ok. We'd always make things right. And at our apartment we had this record player and one year she bought me all these albums, Billy Joel, the Beatles. We listened to them every night."

Looking away, he sits up and rubs his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket. Darkness lurks deep within his pupils, sadness too. Like looking down two deep wells and seeing someone trapped there. I can almost imagine Dell and Yufu dancing around in wide circles, hugging each other, laughing, just being happy. Their images vanish like smoke as he blinks and I'm staring into those black holes again.

He turns away and now we're both watching the colors pour over the wall, mixing together when they touch, parting and blending simultaneously. The metal hand suddenly crashes down. It hits the table and I hear the glass crack. It's quiet except for the pulse of the music and the hum of chatter. Dell keeps his hand in a tight fist.

"It's not fair," he whispers angrily. I'm glad I can't see his face right now.

"Come on," I say, nudging him in the shoulder. "The others are waiting for you."

"For me," he repeats with a laugh. "All right, let's go."

We weave through the throngs of people. I hold onto Dell's hand. So many people, I can't see over them. I crane my neck and look for Gumi's bundle of green hair.

"She's there," Dell says with a nod of his head. My head turns in that direction. Gumi is up on the second level, leaning on the railing, moving her hands as she tells some animated story. Len is sitting at the table in front of her, his arm draped around the back of his chair, an impassive look on his face. Crane my neck farther back and I see the girl named SeeU. At least, I'm assuming that's her.

She has flawless skin and long blonde hair that races down her back. Eyes are a sparkling blue; they're electric, alive, violent. I have to do a double take because at first they look like they're changing colors. Those wide eyes are rimmed in thick, ebony eyeliner and bright white eye shadow is swathed over her lids. She's got a tattoo on her left cheek, a yellow caution sign that blinks on and off. Like when you're about to delete something on your computer and it pops up; warning, warning, do you want to permanently delete this file?

I see another tattoo as she brushes the hair back from her face. It's one of those emoticons that were invented a few years ago, a little silver smiley that shimmers in the lowlights. I see other things too, metallic fingerless gloves that go up to her elbow, a sea-foam green vest, a poufy pink skirt that fans out around her like a ballerina's, and slick tights the color of gunmetal. Last thing I notice, her black and white Chuck Taylor high-tops.

Orange lights come up behind her, she sees me. Spinning, electric eyes bear down on my blue ones. Then someone walks in front of me and her line of sight is broken. Someone just took a pair of scissors and snapped it.

It connects again when she sees me coming up the stairs. Dell and I have finally broken away from the mass of moving people. With each step, the stairs ripple through colors like spazzing chameleons. That green liquid is pumping through the hand rails. Life blood, if blood was green, but it's not. But isn't some animal's blood blue or something? What's it called, a horseshoe crab?

"There you are."

I look up. "Oh, hey."

Gumi walks over and pulls us forward. "These are my other friends I was talking about. KittyBlue and, uh." She fumbles on what to call Dell.

Dang it. We never thought of what to call him on the LiveWire.

"Circle10," Dell answers quickly. I have to turn my head for a moment as I start to laugh. Seriously, circle instead of ring? 10 instead of 01? What a perfect name, it's so obvious that no one would ever guess his real screen name. Just a quick moment of silence. I think Gumi's friend bought it.

The girl offers up a weak smile and her hand. "I'm SeeU. It's nice to have some customers, business has been slow lately." Wow, she's straight to the point.

Dell says what I'm thinking. "You're pretty up front."

She shrugs. "I've got nothing to hide. Everyone you meet in the LiveWire is gonna be a gang member or a thief or worse. It comes with the territory. Why don't we sit down?"

The glass table isn't big enough to fit all of us, so Dell is forced to the outside of the circle. SeeU grabs a Portola from her vest pocket and places it on the table. Yellow haze of cyberspace then a blueprint for some kind of computer part pops into existence, a cylindrical object with dome shaped caps and silver tubes jutting out from the sides. Clear blue liquid rolls around inside it, churning like the ocean. We're all staring at it in wonder.

"What is it?" Len asks.

SeeU grabs the Portola and turns it off. "I'm not exactly sure," she replies uncomfortably, crossing her arms and putting her feet up on the table.

"You expect us to buy something you don't even know the name of? It's probably a piece of junk."

"Hey, I stole it from the megacorporation so watch your mouth, kid."

I feel my eyes widen. "Wow, how'd you manage that?"

She starts turning the Portola over in her hand. Her blue eyes wander. "I just did. So are you people going to buy it?"

"We don't know what it is," Len says again, very slowly, like he's talking to a little kid. Dell suddenly grabs my arm and pulls me back against my seat.

"I know what it is," he whispers through gritted teeth. "Get it."

I nod, then kick Len in the shin.

"What was that for?" he growls.

I mouth: "Shut up. Dell's seen it before."

Don't think he understands me, but I don't care.

"How much is it?" I ask SeeU.

The Portola goes flying up in the air, back down again, and then she swipes it out of the air like a cat does with a mosquito. "Two thousand."

"Dollars?!" Len exclaims. SeeU nods slowly.

"Obviously. And don't even try to haggle with me. There are plenty of people who would pay double that for stolen megacorporation property."

"Then why not go to them?" Dell says from behind me.

"Cause she's my friend," Gumi explains. Turning to SeeU, she says, "So can we just transfer the money to your account?"

"Sure, as long as I get it. We can just do a real-time transfer when you get out of the LiveWire. You know my number, right?"

SeeU and Gumi start trading information and talking really fast, so I lean back and look out over the railing. Music's still pulsing, everyone's still dancing. The lights flash faster and faster, fiber optic columns blink uncontrollably, the world spins on its toes. I'm almost in a daze, but a Chrysalis Client catches my attention. It's hard not to notice a silver sphere the size of a basketball, its metal surface shining. It's a type of robot covered in dozens of plates, a harsh white eye glowing somewhere within. That's where the Chrysalis part comes from, because it looks like something is hiding inside all of those metal sheets. It floats up the stairs like a ghost, heading towards SeeU.

"SeeU," it says in a deep, grating voice. "According to your schedule, it's time to go."

"Got a job to do?" Gumi asks.

SeeU nods. "Sorry, but I can't be late for this." She turns to the rest of us. "Great meeting you all, enjoy your new computer part. I've gotta jet, so I'll see you whenever." A quick salute and then she's gone, booking it down the stairs, the Client trying to keep up. I hear her shout, "See ya, Gumi!"

We're quiet for a moment as her voice fades. Gumi twirls her hair; I stare off into the distance.

"So I guess it's time for us to go as well," Dell says.

"I guess so," Gumi replies. "We got what we needed."

"I still feel like she ripped us off," Len starts, but Dell cuts in.

"She didn't. I know what it is. I'll explain once we get back. Now let's go."

Len's still grumbling when we get up and head to the back exit. But I don't care, I trust Dell. I could tell by his voice, the way his eyes widened as spoke. Whatever that thing is, it must be powerful. The exit sign is bright in the darkness. Gumi opens the door and my eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hope you enjoy the chapter. Virtual hugs to reviewers ^^. **

* * *

Like breaking through the water's surface, waking up after you've been hit by that ice cream truck, or knocking your head against the stone cold concrete. Everything is clear and unbearably sharp for a moment as you exit the LiveWire. Eyes are adjusting, can feel my pupils focusing. I gasp for air and struggle to break my hands free from the cuffs.

"You just press the button." It's Gumi, hovering over me with this sarcastic smirk on her face. She hits the red button above my hands and then I'm free.

"I know," I sigh, rubbing my wrists. "Did everyone wake up?" There's trepidation in my voice. Hey, it can happen, someone not waking up, being stuck in the LiveWire forever.

"Yeah, everyone's fine. You were actually the last one up."

"Really?" I'm still rubbing my wrists. They're red and they hurt.

"Yeah. Dell was first. It might be because you're mind's linked to VY2. He probably causes interference."

I just shrug and climb out of the portal. "Whatever. Let's get that thing SeeU promised us."

"I'm on it."

* * *

I'm holding it in my hands. It's as light as a feather, so delicate yet so powerful, like I'm holding a nuclear bomb. How did this get here? Wait, I know. Gumi walked into the front room, her hooked heels slapping the floor with each step, and pushed Kiyoteru out of the way. The computer booted up, her fingers sped across the keyboard, and then it was sitting the receiver, streamed straight from the LiveWire to our house. And now it's in my hands. Wow.

"It's called a Copernicus Drive," Dell tells me, "because its software is different than any other program. When you insert it into a computer, it challenges the system and reprograms it to fit its own thinking."

"It can think?"

"In relative terms yes. It's less powerful than say, something like VY2, but it has a logical way of processing data that's different than a normal piece of hardware."

"We can use this to make a really powerful computer," I breathe. VY2 comes by and snatches it out of my hands.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." He throws it up into the air. A sound between a growl and a yelp comes from my mouth.

"Idiot!" I yell as he catches it. I reach for it and fall into him. This expression flies across his face. I almost scream. It's so, so nice. For a nanosecond he looks like a scared, lost teenager who just wants, well, he wants me. Like one of those kids living in the midlevel slums. The boy sitting at the edge of the bridge, his eyes wandering in the churning water underneath, like he wants nothing more than to jump. And he really wants to jump, that's the funny thing. But then it's gone and I'm staring at the cold, playful computer slash human that is VY2.

I snatch the drive back. "Don't do that again," I hiss.

"Chill out, kitty." That's seriously his reply?

I turn to Dell and hand him the Copernicus Drive. "Take it. Build a computer with it. That's our first step to taking him down," I say to him.

"Sounds like fun," he replies with a smile. No one objects to my giving him the drive. We talked about it earlier. Kiyoteru said that Dell will be the one to break into the megacorporation. We have all the time in the world for him to make something amazing.

* * *

It's night now. My clock says it's five after ten. Kiyoteru is in his room, typing away on his laptop. Len went to bed early, about half an hour ago, but not before sitting with me while we looked at a hologram of the night sky. The constellations, the stars. It's something we do every once in a while. Wish I could see it in real life.

Gumi's out somewhere, probably wandering the city. She seemed sad after we got back from the LiveWire. Just decided to go for a walk I guess. I swear I heard her mutter, "I miss my old life," as she passed through the doorway. She's like that crazy mother I never had. The one who never really wanted a kid but got one anyways and even though she's had one for a while now she still can't shake her old life, the freedom to do whatever she wants. And then sometimes she's like an eccentric aunt that has that weird, obscure job nobody's heard of, and comes and goes when she pleases. Or maybe Gumi's my cousin, or my strange older sister. She's so many relatives in one. Whatever she is, she's gone right now.

My mind snaps awake. A hangar just hit my head. I'm sitting on the floor in my closet, talking to VY2 through a hole in the wall. He's in the storage room where we keep random junk and a sort of makeshift bathroom we put together. A shower, a toilet and a sink, good enough. Kiyoteru doesn't want VY2 in his room, neither does Len or Gumi, and I definitely don't want him in my room. He would probably just stand over my bed and watch me sleep, marveling at my nonexistent beauty, makes me sick…or maybe it doesn't, whatever.

Long story short, he's been forced into the storage room. Unluckily for me, there is a hole linking our rooms. I hear his voice now.

"Like I said before, it's nice to see you in person."

"I, uh," What do I say? For some reason I agree, it is nice to finally see him face to face, in an odd sort of way. "Yeah, it's nice seeing you too," I finally say. "Weird, but nice I guess."

"Weird?"

"Well yeah. I mean, you've always been inside my head, and now you're human, like me."

Hear him sigh. "You know I'm not really human, Rin, but it's nice to hear you say that. You know that's all I've ever wanted, for you to like me."

"Hey, you're the one who kissed me, ok? I-I never asked for that. Who said I like you, anyways?" I stammer, feeling my face burn.

"Nobody," he says, laughing softly. "But maybe someday you will, at least, I hope so. You don't know what it's like, Rinny, to like somebody so much and not be liked back. The people who created me said that no one would ever like me, because I'm not real. But I don't get it, Len's not human, but you like him."

There it is, that's why I felt guilty when I was kissing Len. "I don't know how to answer that," I reply. He has a point, but I just can't explain my feelings.

He continues, "That's because there is no logical answer. Now, remember what you said earlier? You said 'to be continued', remember that?"

I nod slowly. "Yeah, I remember…unfortunately."

Can see him smile through the wall. "Hooray, I'm glad you do. You can make me feel human, Rin. Please, make me feel real."

"I, um."

"Please." His voice is so sad, so empty. I see his eyes through the wall, pools of molten gold, forever moving and spinning. He really is kind of beautiful.

Without thinking, I whisper, "Fine," and then I lean forward, pulled towards him like a magnet, and our noses brush. Stop, just stop, Rin, you shouldn't be doing this…it isn't right for some reason.

It's like VY2 can read my mind. "It's ok. This is right, I can feel it. We've always been together. Now close your eyes."

So I do what he says. His lips connect with mine. Wow, I forgot how different this is than kissing Len, harder, faster, stronger, almost better. It feels more real, like we are actually connecting, our dreams and desires fusing into one single entity. His sentient mind meshes with my brain for a fraction of a second and I feel his intelligence, his longing to be human. Unlike anything I've ever felt before. Every atom in my body is telling me fall into this kiss, to grab him by the collar and kiss him once more. Just to experience that feeling, the feeling of being propelled into outer space without any space suit or spaceship, just you floating around for a few seconds before exploding into a million pieces, or is it imploding? I wouldn't know; I've never been to space. But whichever it is, all I know is that kissing VY2 feels like that. Flying into space without a space suit and making out with an AI are both once in a lifetime experiences, but you'll regret them both in the long run. Except kissing an AI doesn't result in explosion or implosion. So I'd pick the kissing, but that's just me.

We're kissing through the hole in the wall, my hands against the chipped paint, the A/C hitting my back. And then he's gone, the taste of ions still dancing on my tongue.

"VY2?"

He laughs. "I'm here. But it's my turn to say be continued."

"Wow, you're ridiculous," I say, crossing my arms. "Don't play games with me, you big jerk."

"Haha, Rinny, you're so funny. Stop being so serious all the time. Oh yeah, I have something for you." I hear paper crumpling, then a few rolled up pieces appear through the hole in the wall. "Here, I want you to see these."

I grab the roll of papers, flatten them out in my lap, and read. There are pictures on them, serious looking faces staring at the camera. Mugs shots. I recognize a pile of green hair, dull grey eyes, and pale skin. Gumi, Kiyoteru, and Len. This is no surprise. I know they've all been arrested; everyone who lives in the underground has been arrested or they wouldn't be here.

My friends. I almost laugh. They look so funny. Gumi's got this smirk on her face, her goggles down around her neck, her hair a wreck. Charges: fraud, possession of contrabands, selling of faulty viaticles. Just a bunch of civil crimes, nothing that would make me wig out or anything.

Len's is a little different. He's been charged with grand theft at least three different times. That's what kleptomaniacs do, steal. You think I'm kidding, I'm not. He really is a klepto. Kiyoteru locks his door every night, scared that Len the little thief will come in and take something.

I look at another wrinkled sheet of paper. Kiyoteru's dark eyes stare up at me. Immediately fold it down; his face is cut, exposing the metal skeleton underneath. His eye dangles from its sockets, connected by a thin thread of a wire. He can't feel pain, I know that, but still. What did he do again? It says he breached Maxcat Incorporated's security. Some organization that made software programs. They don't even exist anymore.

I'm tired of looking at Kiyoteru so I put him under the rest of the pile. Dell's face is on the last sheet. Somehow I'm not really surprised to see him, but the expression on his face scares me. His head is lowered and he's looking up at the camera, this murderous look in his eyes. His hair is long, wild, in his face. There's blood at the corner of his mouth. I can't even tell it's him. My eyes wander down the page. Then I see it. I'm afraid that my eyes are going to fall out of their sockets, they're open so wide.

Charges: theft, breach of security, trespassing, treason, and murder. Hear him in my mind, "My wife and daughter are dead." He was accused of killing them? I have nothing to say. It's just, just awful. To come home, find your family dead, and then be accused of murdering them in cold blood. Makes me hate the megacorporation even more.

"Why would you show me this, VY2?" I ask angrily, crushing the papers in my hand.

"I don't really know," he replies. "Does it make you angry?"

"Extremely."

His laugh makes my skin crawl. "You're pretty when you're angry, Rin."

I roll my eyes. "Gag me." VY2 is so bipolar, one second he's kissing me and then he's laughing like some psychopath. I look down and the papers are on the floor; Dell glares at me. "I need to talk to him," I mutter to myself. "Here." I shove those horrible papers back through the hole in the wall, except for Dell's, I need that. VY2 whimpers.

"Where are you going, Rinny?" he calls, but I'm already gone. The closet doors slam behind me.

* * *

According to Kiyoteru, Dell is on the roof. I turn the light on in the hall and pull the ladder down from the ceiling. It hits the tile with a loud crack. Like I dropped a white box from fifteen feet up. Kiyoteru yells, "Keep it down!" Just ignore him and go on up. The smudged skylight, if you could call it that, won't open unless I punch it with my fist. A sharp grating noise and then I feel the warm air of the underground against my face. A stagnant breeze covers me. I am moving through a hot, invisible ocean, my hair flying every which way.

I pull myself up onto the roof. It's flat, like most buildings down here. Piles of discarded shingles are everywhere, along with cigarette butts and empty soda cans. All covered in a layer of dirt and grime, caked into corners, sinking deep into the building's skin. And yet there are some little green plants poking up through the cracked concrete. I nudge a weed affectionately with my foot. Someone coughs, I look up. Dell's sitting at the very edge of the roof. He hasn't noticed me. I say nothing, just walk over, kicking a can as I go. With one final kick it goes flying off towards the city streets below. Dell still doesn't move.

"The city looks cool at this time of night, doesn't it?" I say, sitting down next to him. He nods.

"Yeah, looks like it's on fire." There's an amount of wonder in his voice I've never heard before. His dark red eyes are glassy, the city lights dancing across them. I follow his gaze. It really does look like the city's on fire. Flames that grow from the dark, cold coals of the underground, climbing higher and higher, almost threatening to break the surface. The artificial heat radiates deep within the core, feel its pulse, thousands of matches flickering in the darkness. Pixels of color dot the city, flashes of neon blink rapidly.

Remember the train? How it sped by and melted the world, turned everything inside out and meshed everything together like a nuclear reactor does. A nuclear reactor, there's one in the midlevel somewhere. A dilapidated plant saturated in radiation. Radioactivity, that's bad, isn't it? My mind's up higher than the highest building right now, thinking and wondering. Something pokes me in the shoulder. I start, my brain jolting awake. Oh, it's just Dell.

"Did you need something?" he asks. "Or did you just come up here to stare stupidly at a city you see every day?"

"What's your problem? Stupid jerk. I just wanted to ask you about something." I throw the crumpled piece of paper into his lap. He unfolds it.

"Oh look, it's me." He sounds annoyed. "What's the question?"

"Read it; tell me why they accused you of something you didn't do."

There's that laugh I both hate and love. It echoes across the tops of the buildings. "I can't."

"Why not? It's because I bothered you isn't it? Fine, I'll just leave." I'm up on my feet and he pulls me back down in an instant.

"No, Rin, you don't get it. I can't read."

Silence, then I say rather stupidly, "What? But I thought you said you love books. You're always talking about some lame story and how it applies to real life or whatever. Like that one book, Frankenstein."

"I never said I love to read. One can like books and not read them."

"That's mental! That's like saying 'I love music but I'm deaf." He's staring at me with this just-drop-it sort of look, but I'm not letting this one go.

He knows it, and crumples the paper back up in his fist. "Yufu used to read to me," he mutters.

"Oh. Well, she must have read to you a lot, you know so much," I mutter back. Dell laughs sadly.

"Yeah, she did, every day. She had such a pretty voice, like a music box. You open it just because it sounds so pretty. Every time she opened her mouth she said something beautiful." More silence. Then he looks askance at me and his eyes are hard as steel. "Now to answer your question. The megacorporation didn't want me telling people that they murdered my family, so they just accused me. The rollers showed up at my front door, and then I was behind bars. Not just for my real crimes of theft, etcetera, but for the murder of my own family. I was no longer the hero Ring01, I was just another psychopath in the city prison." He starts tearing up the piece of paper, ripping it apart with shaking fingers. He's a lion mutilating a gazelle. "And then of course they told my parents, my aunt and her family, my wife's sister and her parents. I haven't seen them in, um, about three years. I was only in prison for two, so yeah, it's been three years."

"They only kept you for two years?" I know at once that was a stupid question. But it's too late, I've already said it.

"Well, yeah. I mean, they destroyed my life, cut off my hand, and because of them my family thinks I'm a sociopath, so what was the point of keeping me locked up? Behind bars or not, my life is hell." He opens his fist and lets the strips of paper fall down. Floating down like feathers. I watch them descend. Little paper planes all folded up with nowhere to go, it's kind of sad.

"I don't want your life to be like that," I tell him.

"You're a nice kid, Rin. But you can't fix everything." He scrapes the last few paper slivers from his palm. They fall like teardrops. "For example, if I jumped off this building you wouldn't be able to do anything."

I raise my eyebrows. "Where'd that come from? Geez, you and VY2 are obsessed with the whole suicide thing. That's for people in the midlevel, not for us."

"Well I am from the midlevel." He laughs when he says this. "And do not compare me to that emotionless monster." There's no laughter now.

"He's not a monster." I say it forcefully, quickly, so quick that I can't believe what I've just said.

Now it's Dell's turn to raise his eyebrows. "I thought you hated him?"

I look away. "I, I do…sometimes, not really. I just, it's hard to explain."

"Whatever, kid. As long as you understand it."

Quiet, then we look at each other and start laughing. I can't stop. Our laughter's so loud, like we're screaming into a microphone. Tears sting my eyes. Dell's back is shuddering, he's laughing so hard. So we're sitting here, the warm wind rushing against our faces, our feet dangling over the side of the roof, eyes shut, mouths open, hysterical with laughter. Sides aching, chests shaking, everything is so perfect right now.

But the laughter dies, just like everything else. I find myself lying on my back at the very edge of the roof, strands of my hair tumbling over the side. Look to the left and you can see all of the low-level buildings, the glass, the metal, that halo of orange that circles it all. From the side, it looks like a totally alien city. Colors and lights go every which way, colliding at full speed like two trains hitting head on. I keep my blue eyes open, wanting to absorb all of this, keep it inside my brain forever. Diamond dust rises up from the ground and gets trapped in between my eyelashes, then floats up to the ceiling.

And the dust turns into stars. Dark air pours down from the underground's makeshift sky. Feel the electricity, the heat, the energy. Everything digitizes around me and for a moment I wonder if I'm in a dream. Dreams make me think of sleep, and my eyelids flutter. My vision becomes rimmed in blackness. I'll just let myself fall into the depths of the city, sleep for a while. Just like a computer does.

I have the weirdest dream. No VY2, no people, no one. Just me sitting alone at a bar. Why I'm here I don't know. I'm not even old enough to drink. The lights are dim and smoky. Billy Idol's Flesh for Fantasy is playing in the background. There's a dirty mirror behind the bar, I can barely see my own reflection. Grit and grime cover the poorly papered walls, looks like tears streaming down a gray, crinkled face. Or maybe blood, wait, blood? I blink hard and when I open my eyes, streaks of dark red are oozing from the cracks in the walls. Bubbles of sickly scarlet explode from the floorboards. Hot, bloody raindrops pelt my face.

My hands, my legs, my whole body is covered in blood. A sound between a whimper and a gag comes from my mouth. I start shaking, crying, what's going on? And then suddenly everything is propelled forward. All of VY2's thoughts fly through my head, faster and faster. The gears of an unstable mind weaving and meshing together, all of time ripping apart just as my hair is ripped from my head. Nightmares crawl into my chest. Can't breathe! Why is there so much blood? What is going on?!

I gasp as I jump awake, almost falling off the roof in the process. My lungs stretch like elastic. Touch my arms, my legs, my face, just to make sure I'm ok. I am. What a strange dream. And that bar looked familiar, like I've seen it before a long time ago. It's suddenly extremely cold. Continuous gusts of frigid air whip across my skin. Prickly goose bumps form under my fingertips as the wind douses my body in a torrent of freezing water, making my eyes go wide. An electric shock goes up through my body. Now I'm definitely awake. Sudden realization: there's a white hoodie draped over my legs. Soft lights, the color of pastels, wink at me. Dell's jacket. Look up and he's not there.

A pause, then I leap to the edge and start searching for his broken body in the dirty streets below. Not there. At least he didn't jump. He must have gone back inside.

So I'm left alone, dust and cigarette ashes swirling around my feet. The city still glows in the distance.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Ok, sorry this chapter is such a monster. Not much happened last chapter, so I wanted to make it up to you guys. Virtual hugs to anyone who reads the whole thing lol. Thanks to my loyal readers! I appreciate every review I receive. Enjoy! ^^**

* * *

It's been a few weeks since my talk with Dell. I'm lying on my bed staring at the fan, watching it spin like the blades in a garbage disposal. If VY2 stuck his head up there, he'd get what he wants, though it'd be a bit messy. This makes me laugh. At least, I think I'm laughing. Can't really hear myself right now, I've got my headphones on, listening to Jump by Van Halen. This song makes me think of Dell.

Something's playing in the background; it's interfering with Eddie's guitar solo. I press the pause button on my Walkman, and listen. Music's coming from Kiyoteru's room. Dell is in there, working on the computer and listening to REO Speedwagon. He stays holed up in there almost all the time now. When I walk by and put my ear up to the door, I can hear him typing and hammering and working, the sound of sparks when he connects wires. Sometimes I just sit in front of that door when it's late and dark, and that warm, fuzzy light from the computer screen comes out from under the crack where the door barely meets the tile. There's something relaxing about that, sitting in the dark and seeing the soft screen lights dancing around you.

So, what have I been doing these past few weeks? Not much. Helping Gumi go through a bunch of useless files, chilling out with Len, talking with Dell on the roof, eating Chinese takeout with Kiyoteru, wandering the low-level, kissing VY2 and then feeling guilty about it and not knowing whether I really like him or not and hating that I'm fourteen. Basically, just doing whatever. I haven't been up to the midlevel in forever.

I'm thinking about the midlevel as I walk down the hall. It's freezing in here. No wonder, it's almost December. It's probably snowing up there now. I wrap my arms around my chest and shiver. Wearing my Journey sweatshirt right now, the one with their Frontiers album cover on it. It came out this year, you know. A pair of turquoise tights and black leg warmers complete my almost-end-of-fall look. Gumi let me borrow her giant checkered earrings, too. They stand out against my blonde hair.

The front room is even colder than the hallway. Heater's got to be broken. I walk over to the desk. The black rolling chair accepts my weight. Roll across the tile, past piles of discarded papers, stray keys from keyboards and crushed Coke cans. The computer springs to life when I press the spacebar. Blinking lights catch my attention.

They say: Welcome, you have one new email.

Grab mouse, click, click.

Wait, it's addressed to Dell.

My blue eyes widen. "Dell!" I yell. "You've got an email!"

REO Speedwagon is louder than ever as he opens the door. Then he slams it shut and his loud footsteps echo across the house.

"Email?" he asks. He's standing in the doorway now, both arms bracing the frame, his head ducked. He looks pretty tired. Black circles ring his eyes and his hair goes every which way.

"Yeah, look," I say as I turn the computer screen towards him. He studies it with his dark eyes. The mechanical hand comes forward, clicks the mouse, and his pupils start speeding back and forth across his eyeballs.

"So? Is it interesting or what?" I ask.

Silence.

Then he looks at me. "It's from my sister. I guess you could call it interesting."

Raise my eyebrows. "I didn't know you had a sister. What's it say?"

"Yep, a sister. Her name's Haku. Apparently she wants me to come over to her house for Christmas Eve."

"That's kinda weird."

"Not really. She asks me every year."

I nod. The screensaver suddenly pops up on the computer. "But how did she email you? This computer has like a dozen firewalls protecting it," I ask as I shake the mouse.

"She's a pretty good hacker herself. And she must have used the LiveWire, too."

"Oh," I mutter, slightly embarrassed that a surfacer was able to hack into mine and Kiyoteru's computer."So are you gonna go?" I look up expectantly at Dell with my bright blue eyes.

"I never go," he replies.

"Well this year is different. You met me, you live here now, why break this exciting chain of events?" I'm being funny, but he knows I'm serious. He laughs and shakes his head.

"You know what? I'll go, but only if you come, too. Here, let's shake on it." Then he offers up his hand, the real one. I stare at it for a few moments. Now my hand is coming to meet his.

I'm going to regret this.

* * *

Winter begins soon after this conversation. Cold, darkness of the underground keeps the chill in. The walls become damp and frosty. The world above turns stark with snow, as if it could be any starker. Everything is encased in ice. Buildings, the streets, the alleys. The steam still rises from the factories and vents; it just looks whiter and smokier. Cables freeze, the amputees hide in the alleyways. Dirty sleet and snow fall, soot like.

And then there's the sky, it becomes almost white, with rolling cumulous clouds up in the atmosphere. You could probably touch one if you stood on top of the skyscrapers. From up there, you could see the whole midlevel sprawling in front of you, never-ending, row after row of silver and black buildings, blinding sunlight from somewhere up above reflecting off their roofs. Then the dark shadow of the slums, the district that lies under the shadow of the upper level. The megacorporation looms overhead like a great ice castle. It's all so strange, and eerie. Beautifully dangerous, the neon lights glowing, needlelike icicles hanging from awnings and windows.

I remember when some kid walked under an icicle once; I was seven when it happened. It snapped right off and went straight through the top of his head. And poor little me was standing right behind him when it hit. The snow was red that day. It's probably red today, too.

Somewhere, someplace, at some time, someone always jumps. A daily occurrence really, seeing someone leap from one of the tall buildings. They might even fall right in front of you. That's happened to me once or twice. Hear this whistling sound, like something's falling from the sky. Then you look up and it's a person diving straight towards the ground. Pass by you in a blur, eyes wide, this blissfully ignorant look on their upside down face, then they hit and it's like a balloon filled with red paint just exploded in front of you. But this stuff only happens on the surface. The midlevel has drugs and suicide, they say, and the low-level has everything else.

I'd rather have everything else.

The 'everything else' wanders the streets at night. Little groups of thieves huddle around makeshift fires. The different gangs, like Blackbird and The Cadets, chill at the sides of the road while the prostitutes walk up and down the sidewalks in their new kicks. Clubs are always alive and deadly. Music rises up from every building and every open window. I live at the very edge of the city, literally up against the wall, so I can see everything. The neighborhood district, where the families live, is bustling.

People having block parties, putting up the giant Christmas tree that goes up every year. I love Christmas. They don't celebrate it up on the surface, but down here, it's all over the place. Tinsel and lights on the apartment buildings, flashing green and red. Wreaths hung on lamplights and on front doors, people shave ice and cut paper to make fake snow. Little children lean out on the windowsills and toss the ice and paper slivers into the air, watching as they fall like white feathers to the streets below. Flurries of low-level snow whip around the roofs and flat building tops.

When I stand up there, teetering on the edge, wind coursing through my hair and veins, I know this is my city. My world. Just stand and gaze out at the hundreds of houses, stores and complexes. Blue eyes wide as discs, floating high up in the sky like two bluebirds playing in the wind.

* * *

But I'm not on the roof now. It's Christmas Eve and I'm walking with Dell. We left our place a few minutes ago, Len playing Pong with Akaito, the owner of Tag, and Kiyoteru in the front room, chatting with some people online. VY2 was in Dell's room last time I saw him, working on the new computer. They've become unlikely friends these past few weeks, if you could even call them that. More like frenemies. It's kind of disturbing, but whatever.

Gumi is out here in the city, somewhere. Later tonight there's a party at the Pacifica Hotel, about ten miles away from the business district where we live. Dell and I will meet up with the others after we finish this horrible visit with his family. I'm screaming inside my mind: Don't go! Don't go!

But I made a promise, and I never break my promises.

It's seven and the low-level streets are crowded. Six million people live down here. Most live in the center, or at the northern end, farthest away from the entrance to the low-level. I've only been to the center once, two years ago on my birthday. There are millions of bodies crowded into one place, towering buildings that stretch out all around you, not as high as the midlevel ones but high enough so that you feel encaged, trapped inside an entirely different world. There are lights and music and action and everything's so bright that you just want to scream. But in the suburbs, where I live, it isn't like that.

Dell accidentally bumps into me, making me start. "Sorry," he mutters. "Geez, it's freezing." He pulls the hood of his sweatshirt towards his eyes.

I shiver and move closer to him. "You're telling me." My teeth chatter, hope ice isn't forming in my veins. The cold is a sharp knife digging into my spine. Cuts through my nerves and makes me squint my eyes. The Members Only jacket that Len gave me isn't warm enough for this.

"Here," Dell suddenly says. I look up and his jacket's in front of my face.

"You're gonna freeze without that," I tell him. A laugh, then that familiar shrug.

"I'm fine. Just wear it." He shoves it into my hands and starts walking a little ways ahead of me. He walks so fast, I'll have to run to catch up with him. I guess I'll wear it. The sweatshirt's way too big me. It drops down to my knees and makes my arms look impossibly long, like an orangutan.

I pull the hood up onto my head and notice something. There's a certain smell about this sweatshirt. Smells like ink and apples. Dell eats them all the time, that's probably why. He likes the dark red ones the color of blood. Cores and seeds are scattered all over Kiyoteru's old room. Yeah, I meant to say old. Dell kind of took over Kiyoteru's office, so now he has to sleep in the front room, all curled up under the desk in a sleeping bag.

And now that room is filled with apple cores, hardware, ink cartridges and the dual processor computer we got from that CUL girl a month ago. And now that scent is trapped inside this jacket. It's like I have a little piece of Dell with me, like when little kids wear their father's shoes and go clomping around in them or something like that.

"Come on, Rin. I want to get this over with." Dell's voice breaks my train of thought.

Shoving my hands into the jacket's front pocket, I run after him. Don't Stop Believin' starts blaring from the street speakers, flooding the streets and my ears.

* * *

"Wow, look at the sky."

I look up. Dell's right, it does look pretty wow worthy. It's a white out, clouds the color of ivory blanket the sky. So bright, like light bulbs shining in the night. The fluorescents and neon lights reflect off their surface, spiraling out into millions of separate beams. And then there's the snow. Gray flakes, tainted by pollution, falling endlessly from the clouds. We're in a snow globe.

Freezing air spins around us, weaves through my hair, makes goose bumps appear on Dell's arms. His teeth are chattering. Now I feel bad for taking his jacket.

He feels my gaze, and like he can read my mind, says, "It's really not that cold. Now let's get going before we're late."

The streets are packed tonight. Twenty million people are moving around the city, particles through an accelerator. So many pale, emotionless people wandering and smacking into each other. You can tell who's still under the megacorporation's spell and who's awake. The ones carrying gifts, dressed in Christmas colors or humming carols quietly to themselves, they've set themselves free. Others walk with eyes wide and arms folded, a look of perpetual boredom and longing on their eyes. These eyes are everywhere.

We're in a sea of people, being jostled like rocks in a tumbler. Tossed against one another, stepping on toes, hands, fingers. I look up and see nothing but a bunch of floating heads stretching infinitely towards the black and white sky. There's so much heat, too much. Someone bumps into me, a sharp object jabs me in the arm. Don't know what it is, a fingernail, a zipper on a jacket, a switch blade. But it's sharp, I know that. It leaves a stinging sensation on my arm.

"Don't get lost," Dell tells me, grabbing my arm and making me wince.

He pulls me through the crowd. His body is like a bulldozer. But even with him in front, protecting me, it still seems like we will not escape.

I want to scream.

Just when I feel like I can't take it anymore, we're through. Gasping for breath, I lean against Dell's arm and blink a couple of times, trying to get the lights out of my eyes.

"I forgot how much I hate crowds," I mutter. Dell laughs.

"And this is why we're friends, Rin. Ok, so what's the time?"

I look at my watch. "Quarter till seven."

"We've got fifteen minutes."

We head down a different street that branches off from the main one. It winds through one of the many neighborhood districts of the city. This particular district is called Enigma, because all of the wireless networks are highly encrypted here. The surfacers know that they are close to the low-level. They know the danger, the ominous feeling always lurking in the shadows, the gutters, the alleyways, so they protect themselves from an unknown entity hiding under the streets.

An entity that they will probably never meet, or truly understand. The Enigma District, like the district I used to live in and where my old school is, is located at the very edge of the city. A place that is simply called The Brink. I've never been to the city's center, or to the slums that lie under the upper level's shadow, just The Brink. A mere fraction of this world I live in. And yet, The Brink is so large and sprawling.

I wonder at this as we walk. My blue eyes glow with soft, warm light. A green halo envelops the townhouses and shop buildings. Wires and cables are stretched out over the road like laundry lines. No neon signs fighting for your attention or obnoxious, multicolored blinking eyes, just a gnarly amount of wire bundles and lamplights all existing in a faded place, where the chaos of the city is masked by the presence of the underground. It looks like everything is etched in Mountain Dew colored crayons. Or like we're floating in a Mountain Dew can, submerged in a lime sea. Cat eyes glow green in the darkness.

"It's right here," Dell says.

We've stopped in front of a townhouse with a white door and a Christmas wreath hanging over the peephole. A poinsettia plant is sitting in a pot on the porch, red petals dusted with flakes of snow and strings of newly formed cobwebs. There's a smell coming from under the door, cookies and turkey and ham and every other delicious entre you'd find at a Christmas party. So different from the streets, where the stink of oil and ink and grime overpowers the senses.

There's something inviting about this house, even if it does exist beneath a second story with barred windows and wires hanging like nooses from the roof. That's how the townhouses are here, one stacked on top of the other. Like blocks or playing cards.

Dell holds his breath and knocks on the door. He's so nervous, I can tell. Bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, he's just a little kid at the principal's office. A few moments of silence, only the inaudible sound of snow falling softly to the ground, then somebody shouts, "Be right there!"

I hear feet running across tile, the knob turning, and then the door opens. I'm staring at a tall, slender woman with silver hair that tumbles down her shoulders. She has the same dark red eyes as Dell, and they widen when she looks at him.

"Dell, what, what are you doing here?" she asks quietly. Her voice is kind and motherly, but there's a hint of toughness, like a dagger hidden under a blanket.

"Well, uh, you invited me, didn't you?" Dell replies. He laughs shakily and runs his hand through his hair.

The woman says nothing. She's just staring at him with this weird look in her eyes. I don't know if she's about to cry or punch him in the face.

Dell takes a tiny step back and says, "If you want me to leave I completely understand." He grabs my arm a bit too tightly and starts back down the steps. "I'll leave right now. Sorry to bother you, Haku."

Just as we turn, Dell's sister starts laughing. Seriously, what is it with this family and laughing? She steps outside and does something that makes my eyes go as wide as the moon, she hugs him. His eyes widen too, and his arms come up slowly, returning the hug.

"You haven't changed, Dell. You're still my awkward little brother," she says with a laugh. Then she turns to me. "So who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Dell's friend. We work together. He saved my life once." Wow, I sound like an idiot. But for some reason I can't stop myself. I feel like I have to explain myself to Haku, she kind of scares me.

She's quiet for a few seconds; she's trying to process everything I just said. She knows I'm from the low-level, I can tell. "Well, that sounds like something Dell would do. He's a pretty good guy. What's your name?"

"Rin."

"It's nice to meet you, Rin. I'm Haku. Now come on in, both of you."

She smiles beautifully, grabs both our hands, and leads us inside. Her house is even nicer on the inside. A wooden table is pressed up against the left wall, right under a large window that's framed by polka dot drapes. There's an oval-shaped rug in the center of the room, lit candles all over the place, and different potted plants all pushed up in a corner.

The best part, a giant plastic Christmas tree next to the dining table. Ornaments and paper streamers cover each branch. At the very top is an angel. So beautiful, otherworldly, with her arms stretched out and her golden hair spiraling down her back. Like some kind of creature you might find in the deepest parts of cyberspace. Everything feels so warm, yet cold. The chill from the streets is blended with the hospitality of family. I've never been in a house like this before.

Haku takes us to the back of her house, into the family room. Four people are sitting on one giant wrap around couch. Three women, one man. Must be Dell's parents, his mother-in-law, and his sister-in-law. I can just tell by the way they are all sitting. Half on one side, half on the other.

They're talking in low voices, as if they're afraid that someone is listening. It's like an undetectable bell goes off behind us, because all of the sudden they look up at me and Dell. There it is, that awkward moment of silence when all eyes are on you, and you know that's not a good thing. At first the four pairs of eyes are wide and blank. Somebody just hit the pause button on life and they're caught mid-thought, so their minds are empty.

A woman sitting on the arm of the couch, unkempt white hair and a severe face with screwed up eyes, leans forward and whispers, "You." It's almost a hiss that comes oozing from her clenched teeth. She's got her arms crossed, digging her nails into her skin so hard that I swear I see blood. My first instinct is to bare my teeth and say something nasty, but her comment is directed at Dell, not me. Still, she has an attitude. I don't like her.

The woman looks at Haku. "What is he doing here?"

"I invite him every year. You know that," Haku replies coldly.

"And every year he doesn't come. He's too afraid to look his victim's family in the eyes!"

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you, I didn't do it," Dell says quietly.

"Yes you did! You killed my sister!" The woman's standing up now, pointing at Dell like some accusing witness, this wild look in her eyes.

It's odd, nobody else is saying anything, they're acting as if this kind of outburst is normal. I'm reminded of my mother.

"Sit down, Tei." It's the other woman sitting on the couch. She's much older, with deep wrinkles in her face and dust settling in these channel-like folds of skin. Got a feeling that she's younger than she looks. She pulls her daughter, Tei, down onto the rough leather seat, patting her hand and saying things like, "It's ok, it's ok." She reminds me of a doctor consoling a mental patient.

"Now you know why I never come," Dell mutters to me.

He walks over to the couple sitting opposite Tei and Mrs. Sekka. I'm assuming they're his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Honne. They've just been sitting there this whole time, dumbstruck. He says something to them, they all hug, and then he sits between them. Mrs. Honne has her arm around her son, it doesn't look like she'll be letting go anytime soon. Dell's father asks, "How've you been son?" and now the torture begins, at least for me.

I'm introduced as just Rin, the girl that Dell found in a canal. My parents, who just love me so much, were so grateful to him for saving their only daughter's life that they offered him a spare bedroom in our apartment, which is in the sparkling Skyhawk District of the midlevel. This is the story that is told to Dell's family. I try really hard not to laugh as he tells it.

Then there's small talk. What the weather's been like, how Mr. Honne's business is doing, why Haku isn't married, things like that. Family members discussing the pointless facets of life that no one cares about. The individual squares of color on a Rubik's Cube, so insignificant yet they somehow come together to create something relevant. But is a Rubik's Cube really relevant?

Tei sits with her arms crossed, her face hidden by a curtain of greasy white hair. She says nothing, just sits there, muttering to herself.

Outside, the concrete jungle is groaning and creaking with the weight of twenty million people. I'm almost afraid that the midlevel will crash down upon the low-level. All of a sudden, I'm feeling claustrophobic. I can hear the footsteps of the whole population running through my head. Realizing just how monstrous this city is. Moving, breathing beneath me. The bloody heartbeat of the underground pounding in my ears. Why does this feeling have to come now?

"Rin take my hand, we're saying grace."

I jump. Dell is sitting next to me. At the dining table, the dining table. When did we get here? Oh well, it doesn't matter, so I grab his hand, holding it vice-like. He winces; it's his metal hand. Never get to see the expression on his face though, because my eyes close. Mr. Honne says the prayer.

"Dear God, thank you for the time we have to spend together. Thank you for bringing Dell back to us this year. I hope that maybe we can all get together like this next year too. Um, amen."

Maybe, Maybe? If he's praying to God he should be confident, not hoping that 'maybe' they'll all be around next year and not dead somewhere in a ditch. The only room for uncertainty is in a prayer to VY2. Wow, this man is awkward just like his son. This whole family is. My headphones are in my front pocket, maybe I can slip them on without anyone looking. But I won't do that, I'm not mean enough. So I sit, silent, as they pass around slices of turkey and bowls of mashed potatoes and green beans. It's annoyingly quiet. I have the urge to sigh. This isn't what I expected.

Even though this family has seen the truth, experienced the horrors of the megacorporation first hand, they're still tied down by fear and silence. Some unseen fist flattens them against a cold, silver floor. A blatant metal lie that they know is wrong, but still they feel it under their skin. They know it's there. I thought they'd be different, you know? After having a son who worked for the megacorporation, got his hand cut off for exposing their corruption, and walked in one night to find his wife and child dead, you'd think they be a little more outspoken, a little bit more, oh I don't know, human.

But it's understandable. After all, it's easier to die than to be reanimated. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube once you've squeezed it. Once your soul has been crushed, and your will to challenge, to rebel, has been ripped from your brain, you can't get it back. When your vocal chords have been torn out, and you can no longer let that rebel yell come screaming from your lungs, you're doomed. These poor people are trying to understand just what happened to their poor son. That feeling to kill, to tear, to beat somebody with a baseball bat, the need to defend yourself from anything and anyone, that is necessary to being human.

There are emotionless creatures with sterile minds and eyes drooping from drug overdoses in the midlevel. There are humans in the low-level. Humans who live close enough to the edge and are not afraid to die. Their hair dirty, flecked with grime and glitter and the glamour of the underworld. Cuts and bruises are splattered across their faces like paint on a million canvases.

But they're smiling.

Unlike the surface dwellers, they are happy and alive. Electric with energy. Petty crime clings to their skin, smudges of dirt staining their skinned knees. A bit of dirt from the back alley, oil smears from behind the River Crab Restaurant, a gash gleaming with bright red blood obtained from the streets of Trinity Park. Those are the people I want to be around, not the faceless beings of the upper level.

My train of thought is suddenly broken by a loud cry.

"Oh, it's the baby." Haku jumps up and runs out of the room.

I look sideways at Dell. A wave of nothingness passes across his face. He looks somewhat confused.

"Baby," he repeats slowly. Mr. Honne clears his throat.

"Yep, a baby."

"When did she have a child and why didn't you tell me about it?" Dell demands. His voice is getting scary, that blazing fire glowing in his eyes.

There's silence.

"Will nobody answer me?" Nope, nobody will. His clenched fists tremble, shaking the table and the dishes on it. They clatter together, one of the china cups threatening to fall off the edge. In a fit of anger, he gets up and storms out. His booming footsteps shake the whole house.

Now it's quiet again. So quiet you could hear a mouse click. Mrs. Honne turns to me. "So, Rin, is it? What an interesting—"

I don't let her finish her sentence; I book out of there. Walking through Haku's house, the scent of freshly baked turkey fading and being replaced by the cold, dirty smell of the streets. The angel stares down at me from atop the tree. She understands how I feel. Somehow, I know she does. But still, it's hard to believe that anyone can understand when you live in a world like this.

* * *

Dell and Haku are in a little room right off the kitchen, I crack the door open and look in. Haku is standing next to a crib, cradling a tiny baby in her arms. Dell is next to her.

He stares at the baby with nostalgic wonder in his eyes. Like he's flipping through an old scrapbook and looking at pictures that aren't his, but somehow they bring back memories. He's smiling.

"She's a blessing, Haku, don't forget that," he says.

"I know. But you know how mom and dad are. Once they found out her father was from the low-level, everything went downhill."

"Where is her father?"

"Gone. You know how they are in the underground. Nothing's permanent. But there was something about him, Dell. It doesn't even bother me that he left."

Dell laughs sarcastically. "He was the scum of the earth. Any man who leaves a pregnant woman is scum."

"Don't be an idiot. You didn't even know him," Haku snaps.

"Whatever. As long as you're ok with it, I guess. What's her name?"

"Deruko Ring Yowane."

There's a huge pause. Only Dell's slow breathing can be heard. I'm right behind the door, straining to hear, but I hear nothing. So I push it open just a bit more and look through. He's holding baby Deruko, rocking her back and forth like she is his own child. He probably wishes that it was Ring in his arms, with Yufu at his side, leaning against him and smiling. Both of them smiling, happy.

But Yufu and Ring are dead, so this is just a pointless dream. But somehow, it's still kind of beautiful.

Silence again.

I close my eyes and sigh. I really want to leave now. I stamp my feet against the floor, softly at first, then progressively louder, like I'm running towards the door.

I force it open and shout, "Hey Dell, it's getting pretty late you wanna go now?" Say this so quickly, faster than the door. It slams against the wall just as I finish my sentence.

Dell carefully hands Deruko back to her mother and then looks up at me. "Yeah, let's go," he mutters. He looks at his sister. "I'm sorry we have to go so soon."

"I'm the one who's sorry," Haku replies, putting Deruko back in her crib. She's looking around like a nervous wreck. There's something in her voice that puts me on edge.

"You have no need to be…" Dell reassures her. A fleeting smile flashes across his face.

"Yes, I do." She states it like a fact, and the second she closes her mouth I hear a siren outside.

This night officially sucks.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I yell. My knife is in my front pocket and I have a sudden urge to use it.

I'm shaking with violence, but Dell is still as a statue, staring with empty eyes. Two glass spheres floating within an empty skull. Not anger, but extreme hurt crosses in front of his face.

"You didn't," he whispers, his eyes mere slits, soul-sucking darkness pouring out from the cracks.

"Tei did. She calls every year, just in case you show up."

"If you know that she calls every year, why didn't you say anything to me? Why would you throw your brother under the bus?" He steps forward. Now he's shaking. "What is wrong with you?"

"I didn't think you would show up, Dell! You never do."

"Well I did this year!" he roars. "Here I am! I thought you wanted me here, I was…excited to come." His voice wavers and the blood rushes to his face. Then he looks back at his sister, teeth gritted like a wild animal. "Was this whole night some charade that you and that psychopath Tei came up with?"

"No!" Haku shrieks, grabbing the side of the crib. "I just didn't expect you to come, and then you did and I-"

"You think I killed her," Dell says in a deadly whisper.

Haku gasps, her eyes unblinking. Time stands still, the room is covered in a black mist, and the siren becomes a murderous scream in the background.

Finally, she speaks, her voice a strangled whimper. "Just get out, Dell. You can leave through the back door."

Dell growls or shouts or screams or whatever. And then he turns towards the wall and punches it. Haku screams, grabbing at her hair, her body beginning to heave with sobs. Tears stream down her face.

Her brother turns on her, pointing at her with his metal index finger. "I did not kill my wife!" he screams. "I thought you always had my back, Haku. But you are nothing but a liar! And you know what the worst part is? You invited me into your house, put on that fake smile and acted like you were happy to see me, Dad said 'hi son, great to see you,' and we even prayed together, all for what? So that you wouldn't feel as bad when the rollers dragged me away? You make me sick, all of you!" He looks at me with his burning eyes. "Come on, Rin!" That impossibly strong metal hand grabs my arm and pulls me out of the room.

The back door is adjacent to the kitchen. He wrenches it open and shoves me through. I let him walk ahead of me, into the darkness of night. Snow crunches under his heavy steps. For some reason, I'm still standing by the open door.

What just happened?

The light snowfall comes down softly. A few snowflakes drift inside or land on the concrete steps, evaporating the moment they touch the cold surface, just melting like pieces of cyberspace that you flick and then watch disappear.

More sirens go off. A wave of light bathes the house in red, like blood. It falls around the sides and laps at my feet. I'm standing in the shadows, but the red light is mere nanometers in front of me. One single step into the crimson oblivion, and I'd be a dead girl, my shadow growing taller in the bloody light, revealing my location. And then the flashlights would all look at me and I'd be caught.

The rollers, with their black hats and glasses that hide their evil eyes, they would come and beat me with their batons until I melted into that red light. Every bone crushed, my blue eyes removed and replaced by gaping red holes.

Well, that won't be happening. I turn around to follow Dell, but a voice calls out to me from behind the door.

"It's not my fault," Haku whimpers behind me.

I'm quiet for a second, then I turn around. "You suck," I say in the meanest way possible, probably in the meanest way I've ever said anything.

You'd think that I just condemned her to hell, because she starts bawling, and then she shuts the door. Pride is rising up inside me, creeping up from my lungs and into my heart. A wicked smile spreads across my face. I'm happy I can't see it.

But I can see something else, something I don't want to see. It's a man standing right in front of me. Black hat, black glasses, no, no, no, there's no way this is happening. How long have I been standing here?

Idiot, I'm an idiot.

The cop is still and silent, staring down at me with baton in hand. I can feel my heart pounding against my ribcage, hear my breaths echoing in my ears. The cop hits the baton against his palm, over and over and over again.

Blood turns to ice in my veins and I try not to scream as he raises his weapon.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry this chapter isn't as long as the last one, but it's still a pretty decent length ^^" lol. Enjoy, and, as always, please review! :)**

* * *

Time speeds up and the world passes before me like a blur. When my eyes adjust, I'm leaning forward, up against the cop's shoulder.

It's almost like we're hugging.

But we're not.

My hand is at his abdomen, my knife in my grasp, my knife up to its handle in his soft flesh. Warm blood runs down my wrist and onto the grass. His mouth is slack; he's choking on his own blood. I feel his chest heave and then I put my foot on his thigh and kick hard. My knife slides out of him like he's made of butter. I'm showered in a spray of blood. The cop's body falls onto the ground with a dull thump.

Now I'm the one who's breathing heavy. Sweat beads on my forehead, I can't think. I brace myself against my thighs and try to calm myself down. Seriously, I need to chill out. Yeah, just chill out. Ok, Rin?

"I didn't hear a gunshot," a voice says from the side of the house. "Officer, are you back there?"

This gets my attention. I jump up and start running, searching for Dell's figure in the distance. But there's nothing there.

Don't tell me he left without me.

"Look, over there!" one of the rollers shouts.

Great, just great.

This day is definitely to the curb.

I pump my legs faster, running like a wildcat through the jungle. The song I Ran, by A Flock of Seagulls, pops into my head. Voices yell behind me, the wind whips my face. A piece of ice hits the top of my head, it's hailing. I breathe harder.

Cold air spirals down my throat, supplying my screaming lungs with oxygen. No idea where I'm going. Shadow houses fly by me in a mashed up streak of black and gray, mixed in with the multicolored lights of the city.

Just like the train, exactly like the train.

Darkness is impenetrable; it covers everything in a thin layer like dust on a bookshelf. The night air is so cold. Needlelike pricks of pain dance up my arms and down my legs. My feet slide in the wet grass, and I almost fall on my face. Put out my hands to catch my fall, now they're covered in snow.

There's blood on my face and on my clothes. Ice shards are strewn throughout my hair. I'm tired and dirty and my palms are lacerated. But still, I run, snow and water dripping down my face, cuts on my cheek.

Smell the blood on my face, and suddenly I have energy. Makes me feel alive, like I've just been electrocuted. Take a big gulp of the cold suburban air, and I'm ready, ready for anything.

Everything looks the same. Like I'm running on a treadmill, the same scene speeding by. Bare, skeletal trees and dark, cagey bushes dot the landscape. I realize that I'm running down a gentle slope, downhill towards some unknown canyon or valley or black hole or who knows what. Glancing behind me, I can still see the townhouses of the Enigma District. Time and space must be warped here; I know I've run farther than this. This vast shadowy plain that sprawls out around me seems to go on forever.

Then I see it, the towering overpass ahead of me. A hulking slab of concrete that rises up over the Enigma District, separating it from the other districts. Has to be at least a hundred feet above the ground. Its wall is covered in graffiti, low-lit streetlights are pressed right up against it.

One person is leaning over the guardrail, looking down at nothing. Their figure is etched in shadow, so I don't know what they look like. If they can see me, they're probably laughing right now.

The rollers are gaining on me. Beams from their flashlights bounce in front of me, five shining eyes blinking in the darkness. Just a bunch of eyes without a face. Hmm, Eyes Without a Face, that's a good song by Billy Idol. I really want to listen to that eight-track when I get home, if I get home. I probably will, I mean, why wouldn't—

Whack! Something strikes me in the back of the head. I stagger forward, my mind reeling. "Did you throw a baton at me?" I ask no one in particular.

Colorless dots pop in and out of my vision, expanding into rings that fade quickly away.

What, what was that?

Everything blurs, tears sting at my eyes. It's all so dark. So black, like the night, it is night, right now, Christmas Eve, yeah, it's so, so dark, everything's…fading.

I've fallen onto my knees in the snow. The cops are right behind me. Their shadows fall against my back. I can hear their footsteps; feel the heat of the flashlight beams against my skin. I heave a massive sigh.

This really sucks. It really, really sucks.

Absentmindedly, I touch the back of my head, there's blood dripping down my neck. It's warm against my freezing palm. The heat makes me jump, and my electric blue eyes widen in the dark. A sudden blast of energy shoots through my veins. I hold my breath; hear the cop behind me exhale, then turn around and kick out with my right foot, screaming as I do so.

My foot collides with a cop's head. His glasses break, so does his nose. The tip of my sneaker grabs his hat off his head and flings it into the air. In a single movement, I grab my knife from my front pocket, turn in a three hundred and sixty degree circle, and stab the other cop in the forearm. Adrenaline defines my actions, propels me through the air as I turn and kick and punch and hit. The world spins on its toes around me. The cops beat me with their batons; push me down against the ground.

My knees are starting to buckle, that sudden head rush leaving my brain and leaving me drained. I start clawing at the rollers, peeling off their glasses and trying to scratch out their eyes. One of them grabs my arms.

I scream, "Let go of me! Let go, you freak!"

Twisting my arms in the air like a madman, I struggle to break free from his iron grip. My head turns wildly; I'm trying to bite him, but he's too far behind me and I can't see anything but blackness. Someone pulls my hair, then grabs my legs.

Now they're holding me up off the ground. Suspended over the snow, my blood trickling down my arms and back, right onto the white ground. Kicking and shrieking, my own cries drown out my thoughts. I'm flailing like a rabid animal. My brain rocks within my skull. Twisting my body into knots, arching my back, just trying to get out of this ridiculous mess. Seriously, how are they keeping me restrained?

"Let go! I swear I'll kill you all!"

They all laugh at me as they pull me apart. Feels like I'm on the rack. I grit my teeth and bite my lip, drops of blood trickle down my face.

"Let gooooo!" I screech, and then I wrench my arm out from the cop's hands, screaming bloody murder.

I hit the ground hard, my legs still up in the air. Breathing is becoming more and more difficult. What am I supposed to do? I roll my eyes to the top of my head and see the roller above me, raising his baton.

My eyes grow even larger. Terror seizes my tongue and I can't even scream. What a horrible way to die, having my head bashed in by a pair of floating black glasses holding a baton.

But something else, a monstrous shadow with massive arms, barrels into my attacker, knocking him to the ground like he's nothing but a ragdoll. I hear a sickening crack. The other cops start panicking. The one holding my legs drops me; I roll away from the impending fight, down a slope and onto a manhole. The metal grate cuts my arms.

I sit up, shaking my head and blinking the blood out of my eyes. The blue-black shadows of the rollers mix with the darker shadow of whomever it is that just saved my life. Wait, I know who it is. Who else could it be?

"Dell, get 'em!" I shout. I would help him, but he seems to be doing a pretty good job by himself.

He punches one of the cops in the side of the head, another in the stomach. Then bang!

That was a gunshot, what the heck? They didn't pull a gun on me.

But everything's still a blur, so I can't tell who shot who. Just a bunch of flickering shadows, then I hear another crack as Dell's fist collides with a roller's jaw. The last roller falls to the ground and it's quiet once again. I'm sitting here on the grate, panting, my eyes watering, cuts and bruises throbbing in the darkness.

Dell walks up to me. He comes into the faint glow of a streetlight and now I can see him clearly. He's got a black eye and murderous look on his face.

"Are you all right?" he asks through gritted teeth, almost angrily.

"Um, yeah. Wait, your arm. They shot you," I reply stupidly, pointing at his right arm. Just above his elbow, there's a narrow hole and a whole lot of blood. He looks askance at it.

"Yes, I am aware of that. But I asked if you were ok, not if I was." He sounds so bored, yet so angry. Like he's trying really hard not to explode or something.

"Ok, well I'm fine. Really," I say with a brief smile.

"Good. Now get up. We have to get out of here before we attract attention." He lends me his hand and pulls me to my feet. Then he looks at me and raises his eyebrows. "You're fine, yeah right. Now come on."

* * *

I am so sick of running. We run under the overpass and into the Ivory District. This is the drug district of The Brink. No houses, just a bunch of apartments, stores, and bars. Everything is rusted and ruined here. And it always rains when I'm here, not that I come here a lot.

The plain we're running across slopes up, leading us to a dingy sidewalk littered with trash. An iron bench is nailed into the ground, and someone's laying on it, a young woman with short black hair. She's wearing hot pink heels, high-waisted denim shorts, and a crop top that reads: Frankie Says Relax. She's got her left arm draped over the side of the bench. She looks up at us, two people covered in blood and snow, doubled over, panting heavily.

"Hey man, you're bleeding," she says to Dell.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks kid," he replies. "What street is this?"

"Garfield Avenue."

"Thanks." He looks at me. "That's a good thing. We can take a shortcut through here to get back to the underground entrance."

"You people are from the low-level?" the girl asks.

"Yep," I tell her.

"Lucky," she says bitterly.

"You wanna come with?" I ask her. Dell gives me a cautious look. I just shrug. What do I care if this random chick comes with us? I just survived a beatdown, picking up one midlevel girl doesn't really seem like a big deal to me.

"Thanks for the offer, but I've got mouths to feed. The low-level is just a dream for me."

"Well, I'm sorry about that. But we've really got to get going before I bleed out," Dell says with a forced grin.

"All right, have fun in the underground for me," the girl sighs. She closes her eyes and turns around, her back now to us.

Dell turns to me. "Come on. We need to get back." There's urgency in his voice and in his eyes. I can see why, there's a pool of blood on the concrete. I lift up my jacket and rip a piece of my shirt off.

"Give me your arm," I tell Dell.

"Did you tear your Billy Idol shirt?" he asks incredulously.

"Yes, you should feel special. Now I won't say it again, give me your arm."

He slowly raises his arm, this pouting look on his face. He's acting like a little kid again, it almost makes me laugh. I tie up the wound, but the little piece of cloth barely does anything.

My hands are covered in Dell's blood. I grab his left hand with my right one and we run off down Garfield Avenue. Now I'm really, really sick of running. Dell seems to know where he is going, but his pace is slowing. No wonder, he's lost like three-quarters of the blood in his body. We're dashing around corners, through narrow back alleys; this is a shortcut?

We stop a few times to rest. Right now I'm sitting in an alleyway that's next to a bar called Big Electric Cat. There's a dumpster next to me that's overflowing with old computers and wires. Rats scuttle somewhere inside it, chewing on the cables.

Dell is across from me. He's leaning back against the concrete wall, staring off into space and holding his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. He looks at the city, his eyes lost, lost in that indefinite universe of blue lights and misunderstandings.

Look up, the sky is blacker than black, no longer white like a snow globe. Hundreds of wires crisscrossing in midair obscure my view. This blue aura envelopes every building, street and person. It supplies my electric eyes with more power. I feel them intensify.

A drop of rain suddenly hits me on the head. I told you, didn't I?

"What's the time?" I ask breathlessly, my chest still heaving.

"I wouldn't know, you're the one with the watch," he snaps.

"Oh yeah," I mutter. Let's take a look. "It's nine thirty exactly."

"Yippee," Dell says sarcastically.

A sound between a hiss and growl escapes my mouth. I stand up and walk off out into the city lights.

"Where are you going?" Dell calls after me.

"To get a drink," I reply absentmindedly.

"What!?"

"Alcohol is a sterilizer, isn't it? You can pour it on your gunshot wound."

Silence.

"Oh whatever, I'll be right back."

I'm close to the bar entrance now. Wow, he must really be out of it, he actually let me leave. Push into the double doors with my shoulder and I'm inside.

Have to blink a few times, the lighting is really weird in here. Low, reddish lights are in the walls, which are covered in striped, burgundy wallpaper. There's golden crown molding and a low ceiling that seems to be pressing right down on you. One Night in Bangkok is playing softly in the background. Such an appropriate choice. I really can feel the devil walking next to me.

So many eyeless faces are staring at me. I keep my knife close. About a dozen tables are spread out across the room. Half the chairs are full of men smoking cigarettes or who knows what else, and there's not a single woman. I am absorbed in the fog of smothering smoke that envelops me, so I say nothing for a while. Just stand in the same spot, surveying my surroundings and trying not to look scared.

Finally, I work up the courage to approach the bartender. He's eying me suspiciously, with one eyebrow lifted.

"Um, hi. Can I just have a bottle?" I ask.

"Of what?" His voice is hoarse and scratchy. Like somebody is raking their fingernails down his vocal chords.

A shiver goes down my spine. "I don't know. Something strong."

The bartender heaves a sigh and sets the glass he's been cleaning down on the counter. "Look kid, I don't have time for you. Get out of my bar."

We glare at each other for a moment. Then I take out of my knife and jam it into the wooden counter. It wobbles from the force of my hand. "I'm completely serious, so do what I say."

Some of the men look at me, but nobody moves. They've all got this glazed look, they probably have no idea what's going on.

The bartender laughs. "I've got a shotgun behind this counter, kid. You really want to pull a knife on me?"

"Yes, I do." I gesture to the people in his bar. "None of these losers are going to do anything, and I'm pretty sure I could take you in a one-on-one fight."

"Really? Well I don't fight little girls." He glances behind him, like he's trying to steal a moment to think. "Hold on, I'll be right back." He walks away; to the back I'm guessing, and passes in front of a mirrored wall.

A mirrored wall, why does this look familiar? Was he standing in front of it the whole time? I can barely see my reflection, it's so dirty.

Wait, I remember! This is like that dream I had last month. The one where I was sitting in a bar listening to Idol's Flesh for Fantasy, which just started playing by the way, and then all of that blood exploded from the wall.

A question pops into my head: what's behind that wall?

Without thinking, I grab my knife and leap over the counter. The carefully placed bottles of wine and champagne shake a little when I jump. Wine and champagne, that's kind of ritzy for a dump like this, but whatever.

Creeping along like a cat, knife between my teeth, balancing on the palms of my hands, I go around the side of the bar counter and find the door that the bartender went through. After listening under the door, I crack it open and slip through.

* * *

It's like I'm in the surgery room of a hospital, not as white or as clean, but still extremely scary. There's x-rays on the wall and shelf after shelf of prosthetic limbs and eyes and noses and faces. A table with half a dozen straps is in one corner, along with a rolling metal tray lined with gleaming silver surgical tools. This guy must be some kind of monster.

"How did you get back here?"

He just walked out from another door, a bottle of what looks like vodka in his hand.

"I jumped. Can I have my liquor now?"

"You're a cheeky little street rat, aren't you?" His laughter is razor sharp.

"I'm not from the street, idiot. So do you work for a corporation or something? You do their dirty work?"

"Yeah, for Green Lightning. So what?"

"You disgust me, that's what. I can't believe I was about to buy something from you," I growl.

He's staring at me funny, like he knows something that I don't. "Did you notice that there wasn't a shotgun under the counter?"

"Do you only speak in questions? And yeah, I noticed." My confidence surprises even me, but I'm glad it's there.

The air is thick with bloody tension. Not even a machete could cut through it. I'm afraid that only a scythe would do.

See his hand flinch before he even moves it.

The shotgun is behind his back.

He drops the vodka and raises the gun up to his eye. The bottle shatters when it hits the floor, sparkling droplets fly every which way. Now I'm covered in a spray of alcohol.

My knife leaves my hand just as he raises the gun; it windmills through the air, finding its place in the bartender's shoulder. He yells out, dropping the gun and doubling over in pain. I use this wonderful opportunity to kick him in the head, sending him flying backward into the shelves of prosthetics.

Is he unconscious? My feet carry me over to where his body lay, and my hands once again pull the knife out of somebody's flesh. The demented bartender is out cold. I take a deep breath and shake my head.

What a night, now to find some alcohol. The door that he entered from is still open, so I go through.

Another unexpected scene greets my eyes. A guy tied up on the floor. "Seriously?!"

"Whoever's there, could you untie me?" the guy asks calmly.

I walk over and kneel down next to him. My face instantly reddens. He's one of the most attractive boys I've ever seen. Yes, even hotter than Len…but maybe not as hot as VY2, oh whatever.

He must be at least eighteen. Ever see the music video for Mr. Roboto by Styx? There's this blonde guy in the beginning with this extremely hot look of confusion and wonder on his face. Well the guy lying on the floor looks like him.

His blonde hair is the perfect mix of gold, yellow and white. It's not the startling yellow of Len's hair; it's softer, almost angelic, falling against his neck like the guy's hair in the music video, and it's just long enough to cover his eyes.

"Hello?" he says, still in that same, calm voice. It's almost monotone.

"I'm still here. But I can't untie you unless you tell me who you are and why you're tied up in the first place." I say this regretfully. I'd love to just cut him free, but he could be an enemy. You never know.

"Fair enough. I'd do the same thing. I'm an underground assassin, hired to kill that idiot bartender. And my name is Leon."

"Leon," I repeat quietly. I lean over, so that my face is touching the floor. I look sideways at him, strands of hair falling in front of my eyes. See my hand reach forward and brush away his blonde bangs.

"Woah," I breathe. His eyes are beautiful. I have the sudden feeling that I'm looking down at a green hillside. And I'm way up in the sky, in a plane or hot air balloon, watching the grass flutter in the breeze.

I wave my hand in front of his face. He doesn't even blink. "Can you see me?"

"No, I'm blind. Now can you please untie me?"


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Next chapter there will be more RinxVY2 action so look forward to that xD lol. Please leave a review, they always put a smile on my face ^^. Enjoy the chapter, guys! **

* * *

What? This guy is blind?

I almost ask if he's lying, but then I see his pupils, clouded and unseeing. Find myself touching his skin and running my fingers over his eyelids. There are whitish scars raised over the pale flesh. I take a breath and pull out my knife.

"Hold still. I'll cut you loose." The thin wires snap under the sharp blade. "Can you stand up?"

"Yeah, thanks." Leon gets up, rubs his wrists and looks up at the door.

I guess 'looks' wouldn't be the best word. Looking is probably a habit for him.

"You killed the bartender," he states simply,

"No, he's just knocked out."

"I'm a horrible assassin," he says to himself. "How are old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"Yeah, I'm horrible. You took him down; you can have the honor of killing him."

I laugh nervously. "I've already killed somebody tonight. Go right ahead."

"You're…interesting. All right, I'll do it." He digs in his pockets for a while. Then he slides his hands up and down the trench coat he's wearing. There's a black and white striped t-shirt underneath. I notice that he's wearing black skinny jeans that are almost as ripped up as mine, and a pair of red Adidas Original Superstars.

Doesn't really look like an assassin.

The sightless blue eyes are unmoving. Staying glued to one spot, like some unseen force is holding them in place. His fingers pull a syringe from one of the trench coat pockets.

"Can't you just shoot him?" I ask.

"Too messy. Poison does the job just as well."

I follow him through the door and into the white room where the bartender lies spread-eagled on the floor. Leon kicks out with his foot.

"Yep, that's him," he says when his foot strikes the bartender's abdomen.

He bends down and starts feeling his neck. I watch, almost entranced. It's like he's memorized the human body, tracing his fingers along the key nerves and arteries.

Infinite blackness stretches out in front of him, but somehow his hands see more than my eyes do. His hands stop at the bartender's throat. Then pop! The syringe slips into the jugular veins. A horrible gargling sound comes out of the bartender's throat, his legs splay pointlessly, then his eyes roll to the back of his and he is silent. Not even the iris is visible, just whiteness, like two slick marbles rolling across a wooden floor.

"It's done," I say simply.

Leon nods. "It is done. So, can I come with you?"

I'm completely taken aback by this question. My face contorts into this condescending you-have-a-mental-problem look. So happy he can't see it. "I never said I was going anywhere."

"True, but I figure that you will be going somewhere eventually. Unless you live here in the bar." He says this without any sarcasm whatsoever.

That's what's so sad, he's being sincere. I'm so used to being surrounded by a whining horde of cynics that this just seems unreal.

Leon continues, "So wherever you're going, I would like to join you."

"Why? You don't even know me."

"Knowing someone doesn't warrant trust. I don't know you, yet you helped me. That warrants trust. Besides, my line of work could come in handy."

Let's weigh my options. Walk out now and never see this guy again or recruit another young misfit to our cause. Seems harmless enough. And if he causes any trouble...well he won't cause any trouble, he's blind. This night is wacked out anyways. I'm already mental, and Kiyoteru is probably wigging out because we're more than an hour late.

Something is telling me to say yes. After all, I did have a dream about this place.

"Ok, you can come with me on one condition."

"What would that be, whatever your name is?"

"Get me a bottle of champagne. And my name is Rin Kagamine."

* * *

It's pretty weird, pretty suspicious too. A young girl covered in blood and a twenty-year-old blind guy walking out of the back of the bar without the bartender, liquor bottle in hand.

Yeah, that's right, I asked him his age.

We shuffle out of there, heads down. Some of the men look up from their drinks. A few even put down their joints. But nobody moves. They just let us leave. A bell jingles when we open the door. And then its voice is cut off as the door slams shut behind us.

It's still night outside. The sky is still black and the city's still gritty. More people are out wandering the streets now. There's a clock across the street. An orange neon clock with fluorescent yellow hands, a blinking set of red eyes sitting atop everything, examining any figure that decides to walk under its gaze. It reads: five till ten.

I hope Dell is ok.

He's still sitting in the alleyway, half-awake with his eyes half-open.

"He's over here," I tell Leon. I reach for his hand, but he pulls away.

"You don't have to guide me. I know where I'm going," he says coolly.

I just look at him, but he walks past me.

"This is him," he says, rubbing the top of Dell's head like he's petting a dog.

"Yeah. Here, give me the bottle." I lightly slap Dell's face. Trying to wake him up, trying to keep him alive. "Dell, Dell wake up. We're gonna help you."

His pupils slide across his eyeballs. Looking sideways at me. "We?" he mumbles.

"Yeah, me and my new blind friend. Now let go of your arm."

Leon holds the bottle and I pop the cork. There's a hissing sound, then it fizzes over and sloshes all over the asphalt road.

"Not over there!" Snatch his hand and bring it over Dell's wound. The second the burning liquid touches his skin, Dell growls through clenched teeth.

"What-is-that?" he snarls.

I look at the label. "Some kind of champagne. It," I squint my eyes, trying to read it; "it 'leaves you breathless.' "

"Breathless, I'm gonna leave the guy who poured this on me breathless when I smash his face in!"

"You couldn't really smash my face in. You'd have to have an extremely high amount of force behind your fist to do so," Leon replies absentmindedly, grabbing the bottle away from me and taking a swig. "Hmm, not bad."

"Who are you?!" Dell demands. His voice is going all over the place; he's lost way too much blood. Got his head turned the opposite direction, talking to the air. What is he looking at exactly?

"His name is Leon, now chill out, Dell!" I shout.

But he's not chilling out. He's doing the complete opposite, in fact. He's cursing at Leon, who is pulling away the bottle each time he reaches for it. Both of them are caught in an idiotic game of cat and mouse.

There's this evil smirk on Leon's face. I almost jump backwards. The blank, unblinking eyes mixed with that creepy smile, it's too much.

"We really need to get you a pair of sunglasses, Leon," I tell him.

"Cool. I want a pair of aviators, or maybe some black—"

"Yeah, whatever," I say, waving him off. "Now shut up, Dell!"

Some kind of crazed fit seizes my arm and it comes around in a wide arc, striking him in the temple. His head falls against his chest. Out cold. Well, at least he shut up.

"All right," I say shakily. "Uh, Leon, you grab one arm and I'll get the other. Leon!"

My new little blind friend with the freaky smile turns his head to me. "Hmmm?" he muses. The bottle's up to his ear. He's swirling its contents around, listening to the sound of the liquid slapping the glass.

"Get over here," I say, hanging my head in the process.

He really didn't hear me. He wasn't being a jerk or anything, he honestly didn't hear me.

This is going to take some getting used to, his non-sarcastic tendencies. So literal, with about as much personality as a white box computer.

And then there's this aura of innocence that surrounds him, if an assassin could be innocent. Maybe I'm mistaking innocence for indifference. Still, there's something off about him. If a butterfly floats by, he'll probably go chasing after it like a naïve little kid.

But he wouldn't be able to see the butterfly, so never mind.

One of us grabs Dell's left arm, the other grabs the right. A six-foot-five man is pretty difficult to carry, so we just end up dragging him. These streets aren't too complicated. Bet I can figure out the way back.

It starts to rain again, and I'm pulling a half conscious man across the asphalt, a blind assassin standing next to me.

What a night.

"Where are we going?" Leon asks me.

"Back to the underground," I reply.

He smiles, revealing his pearl white teeth. They're sharp, almost pointed. "Good, that's my favorite place."

* * *

Walking down the stairs would be nearly impossible with Dell like this, so we decide to take the train. There's barely anyone on the subway tonight. There never really is.

A man with a briefcase and a charcoal colored umbrella is sitting in the seat adjacent to us. Got his head down, hat pulled low towards his eyes. The brim scratches the tip of his nose, just as a tree branch scrapes the surface of a lake. Shifty black pupils look up at from behind the brim. All mysterious and cagey-like.

Reminds me of a bat hanging upside down way up in the rafters. We have those at Silver Bullet during the late summer. They peer down from the darkness, bulbous yellow eyes pulsating like individual hearts.

I shudder when I think of this, and the man blinks. It's just us and him.

Deep yellow lights illuminate the subway train. Greasy fluorescents stuck up in the ceiling, flies caught in between the lights. Their black bodies lie motionless against the plastic. Singed and steaming like hot coals.

The fluorescents shake and flash on and off. In fact, the entire train is shaking. I'm holding onto Dell's left arm as the subway rattles and we descend deeper into the underground. We're being sucked down a monster's throat.

The world outside creaks and moans like a reanimated skeleton. So many pointed tracks, pointed teeth, drag us down into the depths. Waves of relief and familiarity wash over me. The deeper we go, the stronger these feelings become.

Dell's head is hanging like a dead weight against my shoulder. Blood drips onto the seat next to him.

And sitting next to him is Leon, his sleek blonde hair falling in front of his pale, sightless eyes. He's sitting statue-like, with his hands folded across his lap and this apathetic look on his face. Nobody speaks, nobody moves. Our bodies slide forward and then back again with the movements of the train.

A metal pole shivers; the silver racks above me shake violently. The vibrations ride up through my body and into the nerves in my teeth. Every bone, every joint is quivering. Like I'm unraveling at the seams.

I am a machine. My screws and bolts unwinding, my hinges are thrown off. They clatter to the floor like bullet casings.

I'm falling apart, or so I think.

"Rin, we're getting close." Leon has his hand against the smudged windowpane. His fingers tremble with each and every turn we take. Somehow, he can tell where we are going, where we've been, where we are headed.

The train speeds by the base of the astronomically tall Silverlight clock tower, the one in the Roxio District, my old district. A quarter of the tower is buried under the surface, its entrance accessible through the maze of underground tunnels.

I used to climb up there after school and sit at the very top, right on the edge, just above the clock face. From up there, I could see more of the city than I could ever imagine, spheres of light floating in the distance, the clouds of smog drifting along the streets like silent cats, all of their eyes on me. And the great lightning sea churning beneath me. Then the hands would strike the hour and I'd feel the great tremors and my hands would shake.

My hands are shaking right now, the finger bones rattling against each other.

"We're close, we're extremely close," Leon says urgently. He stands up and grabs two of the metal poles, his trench coat flailing out around him. "Rin, if we're going to jump we need to do it now."

"Ok, so why don't you shut up and help me? I can't carry him by myself."

"Of course." He walks over and helps me lift Dell up.

The seats are slippery. Dell almost slips through my grasp.

The man sitting across from us looks up. It's funny, like he thinks that we don't notice him. I feel like saying, 'we see you, pal,' but I keep my mouth shut.

Luckily we're in the last car, so there's nothing but infinite darkness behind us. Unluckily, there's no way to get to the railing outside the car.

Back doors no longer exist on trains, makes suicide too easy.

Leon and I stare out through the window, down at the blurring tracks and into the impenetrable blackness. Shining slivers of reflective light reveal the location of the many underground rats. They stare at me with blood-red irises. My eyes survey the blackness.

I turn to Leon. "Got any ideas?"

"A few. Stand back."

He drops Dell's arm and I stumble back from the sudden weight. Leon inhales slowly, then steps forward and slams his fist into the window. Glass shatters and fractured shards spray across the entire car. They fall onto the floor and crack into a million pieces.

It's like he just broke into space, glittering glass pieces are sucked through the gaping hole and out into the darkness. A few slide across my face, leaving bright red scratches.

I walk forward, almost dreamily, and place my right hand outside the subway car. My rings begin to slide off my fingers; my glove bunches at the wrist as it is pulled away from my skin. The wind is so fast, the suction so great. I can feel my eyes widening in their sockets.

A subtle sound, rough tweed rubbing against the slick metal of a pole, makes me turn around. The man with the briefcase is jumping out of his seat. He gets up and rushes out of the car, the door slamming behind him.

He forgot his umbrella, sucks for him.

I look back at Leon. "Your lack of subtlety is kinda disturbing, you being an assassin and all," I tell him as I attempt to wipe the blood off my face.

"I told you I was horrible. How do you think I ended up in that bar all tied up?"

"Um, because—"

"That was a rhetorical question, now jump through."

I roll my eyes and pass Dell to him. "You go first. I wanna get that man's umbrella."

Leon shakes his head in this contrary, condescending way and climbs out the window. He's holding Dell up by his arms, the back of the car between them. Leon on the outside, Dell on the inside. Then he lifts him over and drops him on the metal porch that juts out from the subway car.

"Thievery is appalling," he shouts at me. The roar of the train rolling on the tracks drowns out his voice. A constant slipstream of rushing air, sucked through the subway tunnels, pulls his hair back against his face. Tears stream from his eyes.

"Then my friends are going to appall you!" I yell back. Racing over to that man's empty seat, I almost slip on the greased floor. In one swift movement, I grab the umbrella and leap towards the broken window. "Let's go!"

Climb through carefully, trying to avoid the jutting splinters of pointed glass. I get another cut on my hand and hiss through my teeth. The friction propelled air greets my face with a jolting slap. Hot against my skin, a branding that sears my cheeks and burns my eyes. My hair is sucked back; my knuckles go white as they cling desperately to the car window. The umbrella in my left fist makes it even harder to hold on, but then my feet touch the perforated metal and I relax.

Breaths come is ragged gasps, and the air is steaming. Almost like I'm inhaling embers. Needle-like rocks and clouds of dust are thrown up from the shapeless ground beneath us. All we have to do is jump over the railing and onto the cold concrete of the side tunnels.

Oh who am I kidding, that's all we have to do?

"We should have taken the stairs!" I scream over the din of the train. "Why did we think this would be easier?"

"Because I'm blind. I would trip if we took the stairs." He says this so calmly, as if it's the most rational explanation in the world. I want to hit him.

"So how are we supposed do this?"

"We'll just have to jump."

"But how? We're going too fast and Dell's unconscious! But we have to do it now or we'll miss it!" My voice is choking, but I don't care. If we don't hurry, we'll miss that narrow window of opportunity and speed off towards the center of the city. Leon grits his teeth for a moment.

"Just trust me, ok? Dell will be fine. I'll hold on to him and then we'll jump together. Just trust me, Rin." He wraps Dell's arm around his shoulders and holds tight to his abdomen. "I'm ready. Just say when."

"Ok!" I say. "Ok. Wait, wait."

The pale fluorescents from the subway illuminate a fraction of the tunnel. See the slabs of concrete speed by me, counting the number of separate tunnel entrances we pass. Rivets in the tracks shake, wires imbedded in the ground spit live sparks at my legs.

Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, "Ok on three! One, two, three!"

I hold my breath and jump. Time slows to a fraction of normality, the wind gusts stream past my body, cradling it in sheets of air. Dust swirls around me, the world shifts in a full tilt as I watch with wide eyes and gaping mouth. My mind, why is it so blank? Where am I, what am I doing?

Someone pushed me down, is what I think as I fall. Someone, someone pushed me down.

And then reality strikes hard, as it tends to do, and I realize that I pushed myself down. I'm the one who jumped. A smile blossoms on my face; it is the smile of someone who is free.

Freedom is being able to jump without anyone making you or stopping you.

And now I'm floating like some astronaut up in space, weightless and alone amongst the billions of ancient stars. The inertia tugging me along in a slow trek, my eyes glowing fiercely as clouds of space dust appear before me.

But then I blink, the nebulas transforming into hazes of sand and smoke that smells like ink and gasoline. I hit the ground hard, rolling across the concrete, not stopping. Spinning uncontrollably, a rock in a tumbler, a ballerina in a whirlpool, a spastic top, the earth flying around the sun. The ground pushes up against me; the ceiling threatens to crush me.

I'm bruised and battered, one of those rotten apples lying in Dell's room right now. Red tinges my vision; see nothing but bright bloody streaks.

Then I hit a wall and stop. I lay with eyes open, shocked, vacant, but not afraid. The impact makes my ears ring and my blue eyes jerk uncontrollably.

"What, what," I repeat over and over again like a broken record on a player, that little arm thing getting stuck in the grooves and scratches. My Bon Jovi 7800 Fahrenheit album is like that unfortunately. Came out just this year and it's already ruined. Stupid Gumi.

"What," I mutter again. "That was, was such a rush."

"You're telling me."

"Leon?" I sit up slowly, looking around in the darkness. My head swims; I dig my palms into my eye sockets. There are tears running down my cheeks, but I don't care. "Leon, where are you?" My voice sounds strange and waterlogged. "Leon!" I scream.

"Quiet kid." It's coming from the right. I whip my head around and there he is, his deep red eyes two gaping black holes.

"Dell?"

"Yep. That jump really woke me up. Pretty crazy, huh?" He laughs and I laugh too. That overwhelming sense of loneliness quickly flees, leaving me with nothing but pure relief.

"Are you ok? You're not completely bled out?" I ask him, still somewhat laughing.

"No, I'm fine. But we need to get back, get you patched up."

I laugh sarcastically and stand up. "Me? I'm totally ok. It's you we need to worry about." Good thing it's dark, he can't see me stagger forward.

"You're funny, kid. Help me up and we can get out of here."

"Sure." I grab both of his hands and pull him to his feet. Something isn't right, though. Somebody isn't here. My eyes widen. "Wait, where's Leon?"

"That blind kid? He followed you down here?"

"He carried you, Dell. Without him, we'd probably be dead. Help me find him."

He rubs his hands through his hair and groans, like looking for Leon is the last thing he wants to do. I roll my eyes in the darkness and start walking briskly down the walkway.

It's about six feet across and drops off sharply towards the track. Slate gray, with a bunch of cracks and broken rat bones. I scan the ground in front of me, the tracks beside me.

A streak of white appears in my peripheral vision. My footsteps are blows from a hammer echoing against the concrete walls. "Leon!" I shout.

He's sitting on the track, slumped against the sidewalk with his head against his chest. I pull him up onto the walkway. He's a lot heavier than he looks. Rolling him onto his back, I see the cuts on his forehead and neck. His blind blue eyes are half-open. That's kind of weird.

"Wake up." I shake him by his shoulders and slap his face. His whole body starts and then his eyelids snap open like I just electrocuted him.

"Did we make it in time?"

"Yeah, we made the jump. Get up."

I yank him to his feet and then we both heave a massive sigh. Leon rubs his eyes and blinks hard.

"Dell's over there. Come on," I say.

Dell is waiting for us, leaning against wall with his hands in his pockets. Every time he exhales you can see his breath condensing into clouds of mist. It's cold down here during the winter. I wrap my arms around my chest.

"This tunnel should take us to the east entrance." I gesture towards the darkness in front of us. "From there it's only a few blocks to the housing district. So this will be a thirty minute walk, tops."

Both of them nod in agreement, so I walk past and start down the tunnel. Warm, comforting darkness envelops my body. There are water pipes in these walls, so they're hot to the touch.

I hear Dell talking to Leon behind me. "Thanks, by the way."

Hear the rustle of material as Leon shrugs his shoulders. "No problem."

"So, what's your name again?"

The rest of our journey through the tunnels is as follows: me walking silently ahead, navigating our way through this underground labyrinth, and Dell and Leon behind me, talking about the most pointless stuff you could imagine. How old are you? Who do you work for? Got a family?

Check my watch; it's been twenty-five minutes. A pinprick of light can be seen now. With each step it grows larger. Dime size at first, then the size of a CD-ROM, and now it's engulfing everything. Creeping into the tunnel, lapping at my feet.

"Finally," I whisper.

The lights of the low-level wash over us. Dozens of buildings rise up around us, the clamor of the city settles in my ears. We're finally back, back where we all belong.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I don't have much to say lol. I was going to refrain from writing any ff this week so I could focus on midterms, but alas, I have given in to the writing bug xD. Hope you enjoy it and please review! Virtual hugs to all you great people who review :)!**

* * *

Wordlessly, we walk down the streets towards our district. So many people are out tonight, partying, singing, dancing with foaming cups of cider and beer in their hands.

Some idiot is setting off fireworks. Each time one explodes, it sends a shower of sparks and powder onto the crowd below, the loud bang echoing high up in the rafters.

Makeshift ice rinks, crudely cut circles of ice lying atop the roads, glitter in the artificial light. Fireworks reflect, upside down, in the white ice. Sharp metal blades slash its surface, sending flurries of snow into the air. Christmas songs mix with Stevie Nicks and U2, mingling in the air, creating this cacophony of beats and lyrics. It's really beautiful.

Further down the streets, there are groups of people huddled around metal barrels, fires roaring up, their eyes flickering. Ragged children run by, splashing in puddles and laughing wildly. There are robots raving in the streets, black lights flashing.

Now I can see the Christmas tree in the middle of our district. All of the kids are asleep in their little townhouses; a few groups of carolers are making their rounds. It's a lot quieter here. The hacking companies are all dark, dead quiet. Everybody is probably at the Pacifica Hotel.

Using a bobby pin, I'm able to pick the lock on the door. We slip through and head to Gumi's office. Medical supplies are in the cabinet. I drop the box of bandages on the counter and start unwinding the rolls of gauze.

My hands are bloodstained, a few drops even ooze from the cuts on my face. "Dell, you're first."

He sits down on Gumi's white, spindly chair with the three legs. Wrapping up his arm isn't that hard. Pull it taut and he winces. I dab at his black eye with a piece of soaked gauze and cover every cut with a white bandage.

"Done. Leon, sit down." They trade places like switching lines of code. But Dell is hesitant.

"Rin, what about you?" he asks gruffly.

"Bag your face, will you? If I say I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Whatever." He shrugs and walks out of the room, taking a hand up to the walls and tracing the contours of the room. "I'm getting something to eat, all right?" he yells back.

"Sure." I don't look away from Leon as I say this. The cuts in his forehead are pretty deep. They won't stop bleeding. The white cloth in my hand turns red as I soak up the droplets on his face. A few scarlet beads fall into his eyes.

When the cloth runs over the thin membrane of his eyelids I feel the scars again. "What happened?" I ask quietly.

"I made somebody mad," he replies with a bitter smile.

"Don't we all." There's laughter in my voice. "Who was it?"

"I told you, somebody." He doesn't sound upset, just extremely serious, but still calm somehow. "You know how it is at the surface," he continues, "you make somebody angry and they decide to knife you in the eyes. At least I've got all my limbs, unlike your friend."

"Why don't you just get artificial eyes?"

He furrows his eyebrows in disgust. "I'd rather be blind than rely on machines to see for me. Besides, being blind gives me an opportunity."

"To do what?"

"To judge people by what they do and say, not by the way they look. The ugliest person in the world could have the prettiest voice, and in a blind man's mind, they look beautiful. Just like their voice."

I'm silent. What he just said, it makes me think of something that Dell told me a while ago. How his wife's voice was so melodic, so gorgeous. He would ask her to read to him every night, her voice like a music box. A smile tugs at my mouth.

"It's funny," Leon says suddenly. "Your friend's name is Dell. Last week somebody from Green Lightning hired me to kill a man named Dell Honne. I wonder if—"

"What?!" I drop the cloth and my knife is upon him in seconds. "What are you playing at, assassin?" My teeth are bared, my eyes blazing.

But he is completely still.

"Nothing," Leon says slowly. "There is no need to get violent. I do not intend to harm Dell."

"Then why didn't you say anything earlier? This isn't information that you just randomly throw around."

"Exactly. Think, Rin. Why would I tell you where my client works if I actually intended to kill your friend?" His blind eyes look up at me. My chest heaves, the knife trembles in my fist.

"Tell me why you didn't say anything sooner," I hiss.

"Because it doesn't matter. I was never going to search for Dell Honne. I don't kill innocent people." Silence follows. I know he can feel my fearsome gaze. Then he says, "I promise you I'm telling the truth. I swear on my life."

The knife is lowered from his throat. Feel my eyes soften, my breathing return to normal. "I trust you, Leon, so I'm gonna tell you something. Whoever it was that hired you, they're really working for the megacorporation. And the megacorporation wants Dell dead because Dell is Ring01."

Leon lowers his head, his eyes start shifting from side to side. He's thinking, trying to comprehend. Still so calm, but I can sense his rock hard composure breaking. "Ring01, the only person to have ever broken through the megacorporation's firewalls. This is very…interesting." He leans over, placing his elbows on his knees. A thoughtful expression crosses in front of his face. "I'm glad that you trust me, Rin. I trust you too."

"I know."

He nods, stands up and thanks me. Then he walks out, probably to go find Dell. I am left alone. But still, I find myself smiling. I think we just gained another ally. Even though he has no idea the scale of mayhem that we are preparing to unleash on the megacorporation, I have this feeling that he will stick with us until the end.

This other feeling is there too.

That Leon is even more malicious than we are, that his idea of revenge on the megacorporation is so far out there, so outlandish that we could never understand. He's hiding something. An extreme betrayal that happened to him many years ago, and resulted in the loss of his vision. My spine stiffens as something else comes to mind. A realization. Leon might hate the megacorporation even more than I do.

That is a scary thing. Suddenly I feel a shadow against my back. I turn around, but nothing's there.

* * *

Dell decided to go to sleep, so Leon and I walk to the Pacifica Hotel by ourselves. It's a towering glass tower that glows with a faint blue light. A circular platform winds around the tower like a belt, it holds crowds of people. You can hear the music blaring, see the lights spinning. Pacifica is alive, pulsing with supercharged bursts of energy.

A massive heart beating deep within the body of the underground.

Its walls are roped with cables and transparent tubes filled with rushing gold liquid. We walk up to the metal staircase that leads to the revolving front door, but something catches my eye.

Kiyoteru and Len are sitting on the steps. Len is laughing hysterically; Kiyoteru's got his head in his hands.

"What are you guys doing out here?" They both look up at the sound of my voice.

"Rin! About time," Len calls. He runs over to me. "What happened to you and who's that guy?" Great, he's seen Leon.

"There was an, an incident at Haku's house. Yeah, it's like, a really long story," I say really fast. "And his name is Leon, he helped me and Dell."

He scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Wonderful, you picked up another freeloader."

"He is not a freeloader and neither is Dell!" I back away from him and stand by Leon. "Now tell me why you're out here. You're supposed to be inside."

"I can answer that." Kiyoteru walks up behind Len, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

I hate smoking, but he has artificial lungs, so it won't ever kill him. It still annoys me, though.

He adjusts his glasses and glances up at me with his dull grey eyes. "Len got caught trying to steal something, I just happened to be there, and they threw us out. Guilty by association, story of my life."

"Shut up," Len spits. "If you weren't glued to my hip all the time you would have been fine. But you're just so afraid of people you can't even walk around on your own! I swear, it's like I'm your babysitter."

Kiyoteru steps forward, spitting the cigarette out of his mouth. "Really, Len? You wanna start something here?"

"What are you going to do, huh? Kill me with your awkwardness?" They're in each other's faces, circling like vultures.

"Ok that's enough." I step between them and shove them back forcefully. "No need to start a nerd fight in public." I look at Len. "So what were you trying to steal?"

He flips his hair and stands back arrogantly. "Not trying, baby, succeeding. I've got it right here." From inside the satchel that he always carries when he leaves the house he pulls a hollow cylinder. Give it a shake and you can here paper rustling within.

"What is it?" I make a grab for it but he pulls it away.

"A poster of some supermodel," Kiyoteru interrupts. "Yeah it's ridiculous, I know."

Len hangs his head and mutters, "It's not ridiculous." Says this in a small voice; he is defeated and he knows it.

Kiyoteru is twenty-six, Len is sixteen. A ten-year gap that spans the universe, across crosswalks and space walks and train tracks. Some strange code of conduct, unspoken yet totally obvious, makes the robots respect their elders. They will always succumb to the one that is older. A serf under a king.

I've never understood this, but I like it. It's nice, nostalgic and old-fashioned. I like respect, I like dignity too.

Kiyoteru pulls another cigarette from his jacket pocket and lights it, his hand cupped protectively around the flame. "Let's go back to Silver Bullet. We were just waiting for you to show up, Rin. And we need to find a place for your friend here. Leon, right?"

"Yes," Leon replies stoically.

Kiyoteru just nods and walks down the stairs. Smoke trails behind him, lingers around my head like a crown. I try not to inhale.

The revolving door behind me opens. A flood of music and light pours out like a cascade of water. So many people dancing, swinging their bodies, their skin white in the black lights. Bending back like marionettes on a string, with their faces turned up towards the invisible sun. Just a crowd of leggings and poufy skirts, parachute pants and shoulder pads, wires and computers and light-sensitive eyes.

A boy and girl are dancing in the heat of the moment, just like the song by Asia. He holds her by the waist and she looks straight at him with blazing black eyes. Wild brown hair streaked with indigo flails around her head and races down her back. She reminds me of a dragonfly with diamond wings and multifaceted eyes. Her tan skin glows in the shimmering waves of heat, the shining silver eye shadow twinkling. Star like. All fire and sizzling sparks.

Rolling fog passes in front of them and hides their visions from me.

I see something else too. Giant television screens climbing up the center pillar of the Pacifica Hotel. Weaving like vines under rafters and through walls. They're all playing different music videos, all tuned to MTV recordings.

A rural town with maypoles and a baritone Ivan Doroschuk flashes on one, the people under it doing the safety dance. Kim Wilde sings Kids in America on another, then there's Aerosmith, Van Halen, and of course Billy Idol. On the biggest screen, Video Killed the Radio Star, a tribute to the first ever MTV music video. This party looks so sick, but I turn around. I've had enough excitement for one night.

So we continue down the stairs, laughing and joking with each other. Kiyoteru talks to Leon, Len tries to hold my hand, but I pull away. We disappear into the approaching darkness of the city. We are the shadows of the night.

* * *

I wonder where VY2 and Gumi are, and Kiyoteru tells me that Gumi is still at the party, naturally. VY2 is sitting on the roof of Silver Bullet. Weird that we didn't see him before. Look hard enough and maybe you can see his yellow eyes flashing like pale stars in the distance.

We walk through the streets, the music from the Pacifica fading far behind us. People are filing out of the alleys and back into their houses, shuttering their windows, flipping the open signs on their shop doors. My watch says it's one in the morning. This night has dragged by, just like a lame dog with bulging eyes and a lolling tongue, shambling through the back alleys on its hide legs.

I suddenly realize how tired I am. Blood is crusted on my hands and face. My clothes are smudged with dirt. Stumble a bit while I'm walking, but someone keeps me steady.

I blink; it's VY2 standing beside me.

"Huh?" I say slowly.

Everyone stops and stares at him, standing there in the cold, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He waves shyly. "Hey, guys."

"Where'd you come from?" Kiyoteru asks, the cigarette wiggling up and down as he speaks. "You were sitting on top of the house when Len and I left earlier."

VY2 shrugs. "I just wanted to see if you guys were ok, that's all. I was getting kinda lonely."

"Dell's there," I say. "You weren't alone."

"Oh, well I didn't hear him come in. Guess I was dozing off." He smiles this ridiculous smile that makes my heart jump.

Look down at my shoes, feel my face burn. "Well, uh, I'm glad you came, I guess."

Those hawk-like eyes bore into my brain. "Me too, Rinny."

VY2 accompanies us as we walk back home. He's introduced to Leon, Len gives him the evil eye, and I find myself purposely bumping into him.

Maybe it's the fatigue, but for some reason, I feel drawn to him tonight. Tonight, Christmas Eve, cold and hot, sleeping and alive.

The cold air mixed with the warm synthetic light from above creates a clashing sea of opposite temperatures, a churning tempest that plays with your mind and makes you see things. Hallucinations of men in dark coats carrying briefcases and umbrellas, and of white doves tumbling through the sky. Evergreen vines creeping along the ground with claret berries ripening on the boughs. They tangle themselves in the grates and the gutters. Then I feel a pulling sensation on my ankle and I look down and it's wrapping around my foot, trying to knock me over. Blink and they're gone.

"Rin, you see something?" VY2 is staring at me. He looks…interesting. That word makes me think of Leon; I smile.

"No, not really," I reply. But my voice is faint and my head is swimming. Fatigue is sinking into my bones, running through my veins like ice. The world falls away in vertigo and now I'm in VY2's arms. I wrap my arms around his neck and lean my head against his chest.

Deep inside I hear…I hear a heart humming. Is that possible? Gears spinning and cogs turning. That intricate metal organ that you can't see, with channels and rivets flowing with chemicals; it pumps within his ribcage, eternally spinning like a clock. The humming grows louder and louder, until it fills up my brain and I hear nothing else.

Nothing else at all.

And in the nothingness, I dream. I'm sitting on the roof of a skyscraper, looking out over the city. But something is different. I can see the stars, actually see them. They're blue, yellow, green and white. My eyes shine; this is unbelievable. Finally seeing past the smog and clouds and into the upper atmosphere. If only there was a rocket ship nearby. Space is waiting for me.

So there's a starry sky above me and a voice behind me. Multiple voices. Dell, Leon and VY2 are all suddenly sitting beside me. "Can you count the stars, Rin? We wish we could, we really wish we could."

* * *

Darkness ebbs away like the flow of a tide, lapping at my eyes and pulling my brain out to sea. Something warm rubs against my cheek. Soft, fine, dry. Powdered glass maybe, or sand. I breathe in and my eyelids flutter. And then I blink and I'm in my room lying on my back. The fan blades rotate above me; I follow them with my eyes.

Takes me a while to realize where I am, but then I hear VY2's voice far off in the distance, and I remember. The sheets under me are rough and crinkled, my bed close to the floor, groaning with the weight of a dust filled mattress. Dirty white wall behind me, cracked tile beneath.

"Hi, Rinny."

I jump, startled by his voice. "VY2?"

"Oh, yeah it's me. Sorry I scared you. I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"What?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.

"Well, you did pass out last night haha…" His voice fades. "I was kind of worried, actually."

"That's unlike you."

"Don't be mean, Rin, you know how much I care about you. And I—"

"Shut up and come closer," I suddenly say. The words escape me before I know what's happened. Feel my face grow hot. "You know, cause I can't see you."

"Sure." Hear footsteps, and then he's standing over me, staring down with golden eyes. Pink hair falls in front his face, his white skin barely visible beneath his long sleeve shirt.

I swallow hard. "What time is it?"

"Seven thirty-five."

Hmm, everyone is probably asleep. But why do I care if they're asleep? So that they won't discover what I'm planning to do? What am I planning on doing, why am I even thinking this? Is it the blood loss, the fatigue, the pain?

Whatever it is, I am suddenly thinking about VY2. I'm thinking about him and I want him to kiss me. Last night, there was a reason I let go of Len's hand. This is the reason, VY2 is the reason, I've finally figured it out.

"Maybe I do like you," I mutter, grabbing VY2's hand. "Just a little, though, not too much."

He smiles, his eyes lighting up, and then he bends down and kisses me.

The eyes that look down at me are frightening. There's some kind of strange emotion that bleeds out of them and drips down his pale cheeks. It's a ponderous glow that pulsates within his pupils, an examination of this blonde haired, cut up girl lying beneath him. I can see myself reflected in his spacious eyes; they engulf my brain with a cold sheet of vacancy. Somewhere up in the stratosphere, we are floating. We tumble together in the light air. My hands are on his chest, my hair fanning wildly around me.

I lean forward and breathe. That gleam is back in the depths of VY2's irises, lying at the bottom of those infinite wells. The thin layers of oxygen cradle us as we drift through the sky, and heighten our sense of touch. No air to separate our palms, just strings of molecules and young stars that wind themselves around us. VY2 comes closer and closer, his hands sliding down my arms.

I can no longer hold my eyes open, so I blink, and the bed with the crinkled sheets is still there, supporting our weight. And that tiny pinpoint of latent energy is still circling VY2's eyes like a will-o-wisp. A dull buzzing sound irritates my ears and makes my head hurt. Must be the fatigue, must be the pain.

So I kiss harder.

My mouth molds together with his, contouring to the supple lines of his lips and feeling his teeth and tongue. I fall into the kiss, my instincts calling my hand to tousle his pink hair. He clutches my shoulder and closes his eyes. He's suddenly on top of me, and I accept his weight.

Huh, he's not as heavy as I thought. Rather light actually, and soft, his skin is so soft.

Realize that my hand is under his shirt, feeling his muscles and soft skin. But it's all fake, right? He just made himself this way. But it doesn't feel fake, not one bit.

Kissing him feels electric and amazing, like my mouth is on fire, but in a good way. We're not just kissing, we're making out, like really making out. It's scary and he's so aggressive, holding my hand vice-like and panting as he kisses my neck. And yet, he is also gentle, never pressing his full weight against me, never trying to tear at my clothes or pin me down. He's just there, hovering over me like a spaceship.

He's an alien and I'm his…uh, victim? What an awful comparison. But if this is what being a victim is, I don't mind at all.

I don't know how long it's been, but now we're lying side by side in the darkness, just staring at each other and holding hands. I'm pressed up against him. My jeans, his jeans, just two layers between us. Still wearing Dell's jacket, it's so big I look like a marshmallow in it. And my hair's a wreck and my face is all beat up, but VY2 still kissed me and he's still holding me, his hand resting on the small of my back.

"I love you so much, Rin," he whispers, his lips against my forehead. "I love you more than my own life."

"That's not very much then," I say, laughing slightly.

He laughs too. "Don't be a jerk, Rinny. I'm serious."

"I know." And then I slide my leg in between his thighs, it's almost as if I can hear him smile, and pull him close.

I'm about to fall asleep, I can feel it, and I'm happy he's next to me. Human and AI sleeping silently in the night.

* * *

I wake up on the same rickety bed. VY2 is gone. In his place, I find a note.

Dear Rin,

Good morning :). Kiyoteru called a meeting about fifteen minutes ago, but you just looked so happy and peaceful I couldn't wake you up. Please, I hope you're feeling better. And last night was so fun, I hope you had fun, too. I'm just happy you like me.

-VY2

Feel a smile cross my face. He's such a dork. Funny thing is, I really did have fun last night. Now it's positive, there's no escaping it, I can no longer run from the feelings I have for that stupid, adorable AI. I heave a sigh and pocket the note. Sultry air filled with salt spirals down my throat. It's a mixture of ink and chemicals wafting through the vents.

Voices leak through the metal grates as well, the blasts of air are making my eyes water. Carefully, I stand up on my bed and put my ear up to the cold steel. This vent is connected to Dell's room. Male voices of all different wavelengths and pitches ricochet off the ventilation tunnels, distorting every syllable. It all sounds like gibberish to me. I hear Gumi too. Why are they all in there?

There's a noise I recognize, nails splitting wood, and suddenly I'm falling. I yelp and hang suspended for a moment, then topple onto my mattress, which now rests on the floor. My head grazes the wall, mere inches away from the corner of my desk. Stupid bed, it picks now to break?

A cloud of dust rises up like steam. I'm sitting in a demolition zone. When the smog clears, there's a misshapen pile of wooden planks and still gyrating springs lying on the floor. One spring wriggles loose and lands at my feet. Makes me think of a Slinky. Silent for a second as I sit here panting madly, sitting up on my hands and trying to brush the sawdust and metal shavings from my hair.

"This sucks," I mutter, pushing myself to my feet.

As I dust myself off, I notice that there are bandages on my face and hands. Feel some under my jeans too. Someone must have patched me up last night. Probably Dell. I didn't notice it earlier this morning, not with VY2 in my room.

Careful not to step on the broken wood chips, I check my alarm clock. It's ten fifteen.

I walk quickly across the corridor and open the door to Dell's room.

"Rin! You're ok!" I definitely know that voice.

"Oh come on, Gumi. Put me down." Wow, she still reeks of alcohol. How much did she have to drink last night? I lean forward, my mouth to her ear, and growl, "Put. Me. Down. Now."

She just laughs, and puts me down a little too hard. I turn to the others.

Dell's sitting at his desk, typing on a sleek silver computer that I've never seen before. Must be the one he's been building. He's obviously used pieces from the computer we got from CUL, and the Copernicus Drive is glowing deep within the hard drive. The desktop isn't very impressive or large, but what's around him is amazing. Three panels that reach to the top of the ceiling, thin pieces of hardware with immaculate screens that stretch up and down about seven feet.

I can see the computer cursor skimming across the screens. Files, photographs and millions of lines of code flash across both panels. Dell's typing so fast, his fingers fly over the keys, the red eyes shaking uncontrollably. Like a flood of information is invading his vision, leaking through the nerves of his brain and into every corridor of his mind.

I suddenly realize that I am watching the most intelligent hacker in the city. I am a witness to his technological genius, one who stands in awe before a titan of espionage and learning, power and fear. As a child, he must have been a computer prodigy.

"It's nice isn't it?" VY2's noticed my wide-eyed staring. He walks up behind me; I can feel his breath on my neck. This strange feeling creeps down my spine. Happiness, comfort, familiarity at the sound of his voice. His voice, it's like ice, but I like it. I remember last night and smile.

"Yeah, it's nice." Turning to face him I add, "Did you sleep well."

"Sure did!" He winks and gives me a thumbs up. "And I had this great dream, it was awesome!"

"No one cares," Kiyoteru suddenly says. "Enough small talk. We have real things to discuss." He's sitting on the desk with his leg up, his hand resting on his knee. Grey eyes bore straight through me. They say: I am your leader, listen to me. "Dell and Leon have already explained what happened last night. About the cops, the subway, even the bar. Leon knows us and we know him, and that he was hired to kill Dell. We trust him and each other. And now we have a plan."

"This totally feels like déjà vu," Gumi interrupts. "We had this same discussion when Rin brought Dell here."

"Shut up." One look at his eyes and she shrinks under his deadly gaze. "As I was saying, we have a plan. We're going to infiltrate Green Lightning."

"Are you mental?" I ask, sitting down next to him.

"Told you it was a dumb idea, Kiyoteru," Dell says suddenly. He doesn't even look away from the computer screen.

"You shut up too. Just do your job."

Dell laughs and mumbles something like, "Watch yourself, kid."

Kiyoteru shoots him an angry glare, then turns to address us, his grey eyes burning. "Whoever hired Leon is—"

"An idiot? Who hires a blind assassin?"

"You need to shut up as well, Len. Anyways, Leon's client obviously works for the megacorporation. A monkey could figure that out. Now we need to find them and interrogate them. They must know something, some kind of corporal secret or a way to break through the firewall. We're getting close to discovering the megacorporation's weakness; why else would they be trying kill us all? It won't be easy, breaking in, but we can do it. I'm pretty sure about that. Ok, so are there any questions, comments, opposing points of you? Yes, Leon."

"Thank you." The blind assassin is sitting in the black rolling chair from the front room. Sitting perfectly still like a statue. He lowers his hand and clears his throat. "I have a question. Is the supercomputer going to be a problem?"

"I told you to call me by my name!" VY2 whines. "And if you're saying what I think you're saying, then you'd be wrong."

"What are you worried about, Leon?" Gumi asks in strangely high, doting voice. Wow, she totally has a thing for him. My eyes roll. That is so like her, lunging at any guy aged twenty to twenty-nine. That's her age group, according to her anyways. She's twenty seven. Good thing Dell is thirty-five.

"He could be recording everything we're saying and doing, then sending it back to the megacorporation," Leon replies. "Perhaps that is how they knew that Silver Bullet was a threat in the first place. There is no way of knowing that the supercomputer is not a spy. His voice is clever and controlling, almost hostile." Sightless green eyes look up at all of us, bright and contemplating.

VY2 bursts into sudden laughter. "Well so much for us trusting each other, Kiyoteru!" He walks up to Leon and stares down at him. "Just so you know, assassin, I've been living here for a while now and guess what? Everyone is still here! If I was sending information to the megacorporation everyone in this room would have been killed a long time ago. If they knew about what we're planning, they'd be here in a heartbeat. I don't let them see this or anything I see with my own two eyes! All they get are security camera feeds and my ability to keep this city functioning. That's all they've ever asked of me. What I do in my spare time is none of their business! I would never betray my friends!"

Total and utter silence. Nobody, not even Len, says a word. Just then, VY2 sounded so human. His voice breaking with offense and anger, his words powerful. How could a computer, especially one programmed to kill and control, sound so vulnerable? So real, so human. But why should I be surprised? He's already shown me so much more than I could possibly imagine.

Then Leon looks up at him with his clouded pupils. Milky white, thick tangles of spider webs strung across his eyes. "It seems that your voice betrays your true character. I apologize. Being an assassin all these years has made me quite," he pauses, "paranoid. Yes, that's the word."

"No, it's ok," VY2 says quietly. He looks around and shuffles his feet, embarrassment turning his face red. "I completely understand, Leon."

"Thank you for understanding, VY2."

The single act of calling someone by their name can change everything. VY2 smiles and takes Leon's hand.

Few more seconds of silence, then Dell asks, "So who's the client?" And everything is back to normal.

"A woman named Ann," Leon explains. "She's just a secretary, so I am guessing that Green Lightning doesn't even know she's a megacorporation employee."

"That's probably true," Dell says, nodding. "I remember them doing stuff like that, sending people out to spy on the lesser companies."

"You ever do that?" I probe .

He laughs. "No, no. I never left my office during the day. They didn't trust me enough. Ironic, huh?"

This makes Kiyoteru snort with laughter, though he tries to hide it. The contorted face he makes when he tries not to laugh makes Gumi laugh, then Len snickers at the way she squints her eyes and soon we're all laughing. Even Leon. It lasts for a few seconds. A few seconds of perfect bliss and hysteria.

Kiyoteru waves his hand, settling us down. "Ok, that was fun. Now everyone chill out and think!" He bangs his hand down on the desk. "When are we going to Green Lightning, and most importantly, who's going?"

"Me. I'm the one that Ms. Ann wants dead in the first place, so I have to go," Dell states.

Nobody argues.

"I'm the best at lock picking, so I'm in too," I say quickly. Again, nobody says a word.

It's quiet.

Five other people in the room and not one of them volunteers to go, so I continue. "Leon should go. Ann is his client and he probably knows the company better than we do."

"Agreed," Leon replies. The others murmur in consent.

What I want to say next, it's right there on my tongue, but I'm afraid. Len will give me that what's-your-problem look, Dell will growl like an animal.

But I'll say it anyways.

"I think VY2 should go too."

A pause, then, "What?! Rin, are you an idiot?"

"No I'm not, Len!" I jump up and walk over to him, my fists clenched. "You and Gumi already got to go into the LiveWire with me and Dell, now it's his turn to go on a mission. We just got finished saying how we trust each other. Come on, Len."

His blue eyes remain unblinking, but after what seems like an eternity he finally nods. "Fine. He can go." The words struggle out from behind his teeth.

"I was never asking for your permission. Now when are we going?"

"How about New Year's Eve?" VY2 suggests absentmindedly. He's sitting on a cardboard box in the corner, flicking a frayed wire. "I'll be giving some kind of stupid speech about the upcoming year, blah, blah, blah. Everyone will be distracted."

"Good idea," Kiyoteru says, "but what about the lights? They'll see us coming."

"Well, I have a way to fix that." A devious smile spreads across his face, those yellow eyes glowing with excitement. "We disable the Instatower."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Sorry for the rather late update ^^". Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please review! :D**

* * *

The Instatower. A tall, dark building that rises into the sky like a towering tree. So thin and spindly, almost like it's about to fall over at any second. A spiral staircase winds through the inside, coiling around the brittle metal.

And at its top, a computer, one with millions of wires and glowing light bulbs. It controls all of the lights in the Enigma, Roxio, Skyhawk and Ivory districts. Disconnect those cords and it's lights out for over twenty miles.

But the Instatower is almost impossible to climb. So many people have fallen from its spire, down towards the asphalt below. Slapping the ground and popping like a balloon, the streets running red. Of course it is I who will be attempting this death climb. The tower is pure metal, so I'm wearing super powerful magnetic gloves so strong I can't get anywhere near Len, Gumi or Kiyoteru. The magnets could stop their hearts, confuse their brains.

When I try to push my hands together it's like they meet an invisible wall, a dense titanium wall of an impenetrable thickness. These gloves will save my life; at least I hope they will.

It's a cold December night. Snow falls heavily from the rolling gray clouds overhead, dusting my hair and eyelashes with dirty snowflakes. Gusts of wind, whipping like an agitated tiger's tail, lash at my neck and face. Winter bites my skin with sharp, cold teeth.

Cold like this city, like VY2's hands.

Silence turned solid presses down on me as I stand here, gazing up at the tower. It stretches infinitely towards the black sky.

"Wow." My voice is breathless. This moment is frozen in time, crystallized by the ice and chemicals flowing through the city streets.

I could be a statue, my body is so cold. Fingers frozen stiff, just like the people sitting idly in their houses right now, listening to some ludicrous lecture from VY2. I smile when I think of this, a laugh slipping through my teeth.

"Pay attention, Rin!"

I roll my eyes, Kiyoteru is especially irritating tonight. "Take a chill pill and let me think, ok?"

He snorts and then turns away from the intercom, I can hear him rustling through papers on his desk.

Then, in my other ear, Gumi speaks. "Remember, once the gloves touch the metal they'll deactivate after two seconds, then reactivate when you touch the tower again. So you have to time it perfectly, never have both hands on the metal, and keep moving."

"Don't fall!" VY2 adds. He laughs sharply, slicing through my eardrums.

"Stop talking, people. I'm going up."

It goes dead silent.

All I hear is Dell's crazed typing.

Last time I saw him was over three hours ago. He didn't even look my way as he waved me off and muttered a goodbye. His eyes glued to the computer screen, flashes of data zooming across the panels behind him so fast that they blurred. I saw millions of lines of green code, dozens of open windows brimming with encrypted messages and photographs. This torrent of information was too much for me to look at.

I turned away, but not before seeing something beautiful.

A single image frozen in the top right corner of the screens, one so highly encrypted that Dell kept in there with a little question mark shining beside it.

A woman crouching on the balls of her feet, her thin arms wrapped around her knees. Her head rested against her legs, turned ever so slightly that you could just barely see her face. Pale, sad, with one dark eye staring sideways at you. Long black hair tumbled down her shoulders and fell into her face. And she had wings. Gorgeous glossy wings that shimmered like fire, white like the pinpricks of stars high up in the sky.

I remember her face now. Serious and longing, kind of like mine. Wings would be nice right now, then I'd be able to fly up this stupid tower.

My chest heaves as I take a deep breath, my hands hover over the metal. Once I start climbing, I won't be able to stop. Fear grips my spine as my fingers approach the tower. Hold my breath and then touch the steel with my right hand. The glove's magnetic field pulls the metal ions forward. They are stitched together for two seconds, then I push up with my foot and stick my left hand to the tower, the right glove detaches. No turning back now.

The ground feels further and further away. No clouds of ground fog swirling around my feet. There is no snow crunching beneath my pair of Converse, just layers of slippery metal slick with ice. Fifteen feet up and the wind is stronger. Snow smacks my face, hits my body like a rain of bullets. Pulling myself up is getting more difficult. My muscles flex, burn with fatigue. Grooves in the Instatower are footholds, but they're shallow and sheened in ice.

I've got it, got it, no wait!

My foot just slipped; I'm hanging by my left hand.

No, no, it'll only hold for two seconds. Pull yourself up, Rin!

Adrenaline floods my veins and clouds my vision. Strength rises up in every tendon. My hands are claws, curved and catlike. They find another groove above me, the glove's magnetic material gripping the surface. Don't even have time to sigh in relief. The left glove unsticks just as my other hand comes up.

My movements are shaky. Every time I lift my arm, drag my foot up, rest my head against the freezing metal for a nanosecond, I am reminded of the narrow two-second opportunity I have to ascend to safety. Take another deep breath as I climb higher.

Cold hard concrete floats somewhere below me. An island drifting in a wintry sea, strewn with jagged rocks, awaiting those who will fall to their deaths.

Sleet swirls around my body, entangling in my hair. Feel like a butterfly wrapped in a spider's sticky silk. My tongue rolls in my mouth as I try to spit out the snow that's clogging my windpipe. It's so cold, and yet I'm sweating. Beads roll down my temples and down my neck.

Heat radiates from somewhere deep within the tower. Power cords and splayed cables peek out from behind the metal rods and plates. Look through the layers of steel mesh, wires, and shining silver planks and you can see a pulsing red light. The heart of the Instatower, of the computer that looms at its peak.

What is it? A being like VY2, or something malicious? Sentient or unintelligent? Sitting up there all alone for so many years, it must be self-aware at least. It's consciousness lies somewhere inside this tower, maybe all around it too. It is possible that it sees me even now.

Wait, how long have I been staring into the tower?

My eyes suddenly widen. I'm almost afraid to move my hands. I try. Nothing happens.

"I'm stuck!"

"What do you mean you're stuck?"

"I can't move, Kiyoteru! The gloves aren't deactivating."

"That's impossible, I made them!" Gumi's voice is high and aggravated. I grit my teeth.

"Clearly it's possible. What am I supposed to do?"

Silence.

I bang my head against the tower. "Come on!"

There is a moment of total silence, like I've been sucked inside a vacuum. Then my eyes pop out of their sockets, my body cringes and my mouth hangs open.

Can't breathe.

Can't see.

But I know one thing; the gloves deactivated. At the same time.

I am going to die.

A scream unlike anything I've ever heard and now I'm falling. Screaming, crying, begging God to stop my fall. People are yelling in my ears, but I hear nothing. Just the rushing of wind as I tumble down towards the vacant lot below me.

My stomach's in my mouth, my heart's in my head. I'm being flattened and crushed by a car, shot and stabbed, struck by lightning, a bat, an ice cream truck.

Fear unlike anything I've ever felt. Death. It's under me. Waiting for me. Hair is being ripped out by their roots, skin flying back, teeth jarring up against the roof of my mouth. Tears won't even fall, they're being pushed up into my eyelids, blinding me.

So this is how Leon feels, seeing nothing but eternal blackness. Blindness, with nothing but the roaring of a distant storm echoing in my ears. It's laughing at me, the sky laughs at me.

Hate. I hate it. Striking me down like some fallen angel, a rocket destined for space, only to be blown up by the very atmosphere it seeks to escape. There is light and darkness and swirls of color that make me cry out in pain.

"Save me!" I shriek. "Oh God, save me!"

Stops. Everything stops. The wind fades back; my body is jerked forward, and I am a car slamming on the brake.

I'm hanging upside down, suspended like a marionette. I am alone, a floating astronaut. Tears fall from my swollen eyes. They disappear into the darkness below. Limbs are still shaking, my chest is heaving with uncontrollable sobs. Look down and see my hands dangling in front of me. Blood rushes to my head.

"You're safe now," a voice whispers in the stillness.

"I wasn't asking you! You're not God!" My own voice scares me. Sounds ripped and raw. Blood is sprayed across the night when I talk.

"I know," VY2 replies. "Believe me, I know. But I knew I could save you, so I did." He pauses. "If you died I would have nothing. My miserable life would be even worse."

"I-I…thank you. S-Sorry I yelled at you…" Tears are clogging my throat.

"Never apologize to me." He falls silent, and suddenly I know that we are alone. Both intercoms are shut off; it's just his voice in my head. "You understand that I love you, right? Remember the other night? Those feelings don't just go away when daylight comes. I love you when we're alone and when we're in a crowd of a thousand people. I would never let you die. Now stop crying or I'll let you fall."

I stare at the ground below me, covered in a thin blanket of snow. My frozen lips move. "That's a contradictive statement. But I understand. I know you love me."

"Rin…uh, just close your eyes."

They obey and darkness surrounds me. Feels like the fabric of a stranger's coat. Spirals of air snake across my body as VY2 pulls me up. There's a tugging sensation in my right foot, as if he's got a rope tied around my ankle.

All of his power is focused there, slowly towing me up the side of the tower. My brain becomes heavy as more blood floods my skull.

"Hurry up," I say through gritted teeth.

He doesn't reply. Deep shuddering breaths fill my mind. Static starts bubbling up from the near silence, then fluctuating words spoken at ridiculous speeds appear. Bits of VY2's scattered subconscious speaking in robotic, monotone voices.

"Death…turn left up ahead (inaudible) six hundred pounds of rice and cocaine…shipped today from (inaudible) the defendant is found guilty…red light…orange light (laughs) that doesn't exist, you are so stupid…remember the worst thing you could do is (inaudible) always guilty until proven innocent…hate hate…I feel like Winston Smith…leave me alone (inaudible)… the megacorporation's real name is (inaudible)."

"VY2, stop!"

The ranting halts and I fall, striking a hard metal floor. Growling, I sit up and open my eyes, in that order. The Instatower's peak is nothing but a small, dark room. Cramped and suffocating, makes me feel claustrophobic.

Blackened metal beams support a thin pinnacle just above me. I can see it through the wires and grates. The floor is cold, frostbitten cables run around the room's parameter. Some liquid drips from the ceiling and falls into a concentrated pool below, drip, drip, drip. Don't know what it is, but I don't care.

Something else draws my attention. A computer. It's up against the back wall, a giant circular screen, like an eye. Millions of wires sprout from its hardware and gives the appearance of eyelashes. Claws extend from its base, reaching forward like so many dead fingers stretching towards the light.

Sparks fly from the ceiling and hit the floor, hissing. A yellow pupil stares out from the blank screen, unblinking. Oh wait, it just blinked.

"This is my tower," the computer says. I cringe when it speaks; the voice is so mechanical and cold. Yet, it's filled with hatred. "No response. Repetition of statement necessary: this is my tower."

"I-I know," I manage to squeak.

"Outsiders should not intrude." The yellow pupil narrows. "It is rude."

"Maybe you should have a doorbell installed. That would fix your problem." I stand up and take my knife from my pocket. "Now you can either shut yourself off for a few hours or I'll do it permanently."

"You make me laugh. Attempt at laughter. You cannot kill me, surfacer."

"I'm not a surfacer." Walking forward, I raise the knife. "Surrender, computer."

The yellow pupil blinks. "Before you surrender, because it will be you not me who surrenders, I have a question. You were saved by some intelligent being as you fell down my tower, who was this intelligent being?" There's genuine curiosity in its voice.

Grit my teeth in irritation. Stupid junk pile, asking me questions, just trying to stall time. Why can't people just make regular computers anymore, ones that don't speak?

But I answer it anyways. "It was VY2. I'm gonna assume that you know him."

"VY2?" The pupil widens in disbelief. "Our beloved leader who directs my brothers and I?"

"That's the one."

"That is unfortunate. Helping insignificant pawns is strictly against our code. Fortunately, he has no power in here. I have become self-aware, he cannot control me."

"It's great that you've found your identity and all, but I really need you dead." The knife spins in my hand. I'm getting impatient.

"I have already told you, you cannot kill me. I have become self…ow."

The knife just flew out of my fingers, finding its place in the center of that yellow pupil. Glass shatters, falls to the metal floor and flies past my face.

Slivers get trapped inside the waves of my hair. Yellow light recedes, leaving the room dark, and that pupil begins to fade. Slowly turns to black, black like the stars.

Thick liquid flows down the eye like oil and pools on the floor. Looks like it's crying.

"So much for not being able to kill you," I mutter as a walk forward, treading carefully through the broken bits of glass. Lights flash sporadically behind the cracked eye; I can see my reflection in the screen.

When I reach out to take my knife I hear a voice, faint, dying:

"I don't blame you."

For a second or two, I freeze. A warped reality descends upon my mind. This computer did nothing wrong, sure he was annoying, but harmless.

Clearly he had no real defenses, just haughty words and an insane amount of self-confidence. My blue eyes widen. The black tears pool at my feet. Am I a murderer?

"Rin? Hey, you there?" Dell's voice makes me jump.

"Yeah, I just…cut the power."

"We know. I've never seen this district so dark. I finished up at Silver Bullet and now I'm with Leon and VY2. We're two blocks from Green Lightning."

"I'm on my way." Turning around, I understand what Dell was saying. It's pitch black.

A darkness that invades everything, seeps into your skin and makes you sick. Nothing like the underground. There's comfort in its embrace, though. I don't feel as alone anymore.

Beside me is a lift, one that only goes one way. Down. My eyes barely make it out in the darkness. The triangular button shines yellow when I push it, and then the gate open and I walk inside.

The lights pulse once more from behind the screen, summoning all its remaining energy in one final, useless effort. To live again. But it fades, just as I thought, and the darkness swallows it whole.

* * *

Riding down seems to take forever. Total blackness, the creaking of the wheels and pulleys as it rolls down the tower. I'm sitting with my back against one of the walls. My head bounces up and down, gently smacking the steel behind me. Have my legs drawn up to my chest, one hand resting on my knee. Covered in filth, glass shards strewn throughout my hair. I could be a princess, crystals hiding amongst my beautiful locks. The Instatower princess.

Snorting with laughter I whisper, "Yeah right," and the lift keeps going down.

Electric blue eyes are half open. I'm floating dreamlike down the lift, listening to the sound of silence. The lift jerks forward and I slide to the opposite wall. My whole world shakes, and my whole world is this rusted metal cube. Screws rattle, the floor shakes, everything jarring up against each other like loose bones in a bag of skin. The night seeps in through the steel slats, makes me shiver.

Cars scream in the streets below, not knowing when to go or when to stop. One crashes into another, the sound of splintering metal scraping across the night. It's razor sharp and makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Like when you step on a cat's tail and a shiver races up their spine and they hiss and spit, their eyes burning with anger.

If I lean back, I can see through the metal slats to the streets below. Although I'm looking down upon a normal city, something presses in upon me. I stare down at the city, my mind on top of the tallest building. From up there I can see everything, observing this makeshift city of fear and emptiness. Outside this metal box is reality, the truth behind this city and its emotionless people.

So fake, deceiving, a lie wound tightly around another lie. Layer upon layer of falsehoods that morph into mankind's worse fear, this is the terrifying truth. There isn't another actuality for this empty city. It will forever lie still in this diorama made by a human's hands, a dark machine crafted by the megacorporation's mind.

All of the people are the gears that turn the machine, and their lives were created by lies. I look back at the darkness, even though it does not see me, and I wish that the lights would never turn back on.

My eyes close, my fingers curl around the chains and wires that are littered throughout this metal box, my grip tightening on the fabricated city below me. I want to obliterate time and put an end to this infinite cycle of wasted days and hours, every pointless second shattering like glass under my bloody feet.

With one final groan the lift shudders to a halt. My eyes snapping open, I stand up and pry the gate open. Five inches is enough for me to slip through, then it snaps shut and shoots back up to the top.

Now I am running.

The knife light reveals a path. Dark asphalt roads lined with white stripes, slabs of dull concrete littered with trash. Car alarms, ambulances, howling cats and frantic cries pierce the night. Reflective tape illuminates a tiny fraction of the street, but for the most part everything is hidden. When I come to a crossroads, I shine the light at the street sign and then slide into a hairpin turn.

Time is fleeing; the countdown to lights on begins.

"I'm about a minute away." My breathing is quick and ragged.

Voices mutter in reply.

Street lights fly past, cold air stabs at my lungs; deep shadows fade in and out of the darkness. Iridescent eyes are bright stars in the blackout and the world is a moving picture show. Frame by frame by frame by frame. Another frame clicks by and I'm exactly two blocks from Green Lightning.

Its dark towers cut a jagged scar in the sky. The knife light bobs up and down as I make my way towards a narrow alleyway caught between two apartment buildings. It catches VY2's golden eyes, making them glow evilly.

"Rin?"

"Yeah, it's me." I look over at Leon and Dell. "Oh hey, guys."

Dell laughs. "You almost fell to your death and all you have to say is 'hey'? You're funny, kid."

"I agree, you're quite funny," Leon echoes.

"She's hilarious, now shut up and get moving!" Kiyoteru suddenly shouts in all of our ears. "You have three and a half hours to break in, find Ann and break out. The virus Dell uploaded into the backup generators will only stall them for so long, so you need to work fast. The district generator will come on first, then the Green Lightning one. And we won't be able to communicate through the intercom; Green Lightning has scrambling software."

"Why didn't we shut that off again?" Len cuts in from the left side of the intercom.

"The firewall was too difficult to get past. It doesn't even matter, you idiot. Anyways, you all need to get in, get out. That's it."

"We understand." Leon's green eyes glint in the darkness.

"Alright. We'll be waiting." The intercom shuts off.

Leon looks at us with his blind pupils. "I know the layout best, so I'll lead. Then Rin, Dell, and last but of course not least, VY2."

"Why do we need to walk in a line?" VY2 asks, taking my knife from my hands and tossing it up into the air. I just stare at him.

"Well, Green Lightning is not a regular office building."

"How so?" Dell asks.

"Just trust me." And then Leon stands and looks up at the three towers that carve a 'v' into the night. He looks at them even though he's blind; a miniscule shiver goes down his spine.

* * *

"We don't have all night, Rinny," VY2 gripes.

I roll my eyes and keep working. He's so strange, acting like we're two kids with a raging rivalry. He is determined not to let the others know what's going on between us. Frankly, I'd rather they not know, too.

Got my knife between my teeth, the tension wrench in one hand, the pick in another. This lock is ludicrously easy, too easy in fact. Rain is falling now. Thick, acid filled drops strike my skin and slide down my leather jacket.

Next to me, Leon is leaning against the wall, holding the umbrella that I took from that man on the subway. Only half of him is visible in the cone of blue light emitting from the knife. He looks so calm, standing there in his trench coat, his oversized sneakers caked with mud and filth.

Carefully I push the cylinders up with the pick, providing enough torque with the tension wrench to ensure that they don't fall back down. There, the last one just clicked into place. In one swift movement I turn the lock to the right and it opens.

"That took you twenty seconds, not bad," Dell tells me.

"I try. Let's go in."

The door opens slowly, silently. Shining the light in, I see a corridor lined in chrome, geometrical machines crowded against one wall, creating electricity and sending it up to the hundreds of floors above. An acrid smell of ink and burnt rubber makes my eyes water.

We file in, one after the other in the order that Leon said. When VY2 walks in, Leon says, "Shut the door." He does and we're in total darkness, except for the rays of light coming from my knife.

"Glasses on," Leon instructs.

I pull the goggles up from my neck and place them over my eyes. Instantly the world explodes in a wave of fluorescent green. My friends are rippling hues of lime green, yellow, and emerald, the floor is a dark evergreen blob.

Leon leads us through the corridor and up a staircase, rats scurrying beneath the steps, gnawing on the exposed wires. Some of them lay dead, fried by the electricity flowing through the cables. Another door opens, and now we're in room filled with computers, dozens of screens, cracked and empty in the green light.

"A storage room," Dell says.

Some unknown force pushes something off a shelf, and a loud crash echoes across the room. Dell pushes me down, whispering, "turn off the light."

We duck behind a stack of discarded white boxes just as a flashlight looks our way. Peering through the spaces between hardware and monitor, I am able to see two muddled outlines. They glow bright green.

"…intolerable. How does something like this happen?" an outline says.

"I'm not sure. But the generators should be on by now. You don't think…"

"What?"

"VY2's not responding to any of our efforts. It's impossible to, to…you know." The second outline swallows so hard that I can hear him.

VY2 nudges me in the ribs and smiles wickedly. Find myself smiling too. These people are worried that somebody shut their precious god VY2 off, that he's dead somewhere and all of them are doomed to wander is this darkness alone, without his constant stream of useless, unintelligible chatter.

I feel bad for them.

Just kidding, not really.

They keep talking and I start looking for a way out of here. From my peripheral vision, I see Dell pulling a gun from the waistband of his pants.

"You can't kill them," I whisper, grabbing his arm. He looks at me and shakes his head.

"They're tranquilizer bullets," he explains.

We're talking so quietly that almost no sound is moving through the air, but I understand. A confirming nod, and then he aims from the top of a shattered white box.

Two pops and the outlines collapse into a pale green pile. Those few seconds of agonizing impatience, when you're wondering if your enemies are really down, pass silently. We scramble across the floor and examine the bodies. Their chests rise in timed synchronicity; they are the same.

"ID badges, pens, syringes, nothing exciting," I sigh.

Leon is holding a bag, shaking the contents within. Sounds like sand. "Cocaine. It's all over him."

"That's not surprising." I stand up and scan the rest of the room. "We are at the surface."

"Hey, I found another door," Dell shouts. We both turn and he's standing by a rectangle of green darkness. His eyes glow viridian. "Let's go."

Before we all get to the door, he walks through.

And vanishes.

"Dell!" I rush over to the open door and almost topple into a pit.

"Watch it!" VY2 grabs my arm and pulls me back.

"Let go!" Leaning over, I see Dell lying at the bottom, surrounded by trash. "Dell, Dell are you ok?" No answer. "Answer me. Come on!" Tears start forming in my eyes. "Please!"

Silence.

Then, from the bottom of the pit, I hear, "That was…that was painful…yeah."

"Dell! Thank God. Are you ok?" My body is so far over the ledge that VY2 has to hold me steady.

Looking through my peripherals, I can see VY2 struggling to pull me back. He's got his arm wrapped around my waist. I swallow hard. Ok, now is not the time to get all excited, Rin, no matter how wonderful and strange it feels to have him so close. My stupid adolescent hormones tell me to turn around and kiss him, but I don't. Dell needs my help.

I ask again, "You alright?"

"Uh, yeah. Think so. My arm might be broken."

"Magnificent," VY2 groans.

"Shut up," I bark. Looking back into the pit I shout, "I'm coming down to get you. VY2, get a rope or something."

"Where am I supposed to find that?"

"Here." Leon just walked up. He throws a power cord onto the ground. At least that's what I think it is, hard to tell in all this green light.

"Thanks," I say, taking the cord and testing its strength. Hmm, not bad. "Ok. Lower me down."

VY2 and Leon hold one end, I propel down the pit with the other. The wall is rusted, a mix of oil and chemicals oozes out from the cracks.

A pair of eyes glares at me from behind the wall.

Wait, eyes? I blink and they're gone. Probably just my imagination.

But it's never just your imagination, is it?

Water splashes up when I hit the bottom. Thick, syrupy, grime seeps through my jeans and into my shoes. A sickening stench makes my body go rigid. Through my goggles, I see a heap of green. No definitive outlines.

"Dell, where are you?"

"Up against the wall." His voice comes from my left.

Look over and there he is, propped up against the corroded metal, one arm dangling at his side.

Wading through the layers of garbage is almost impossible. Surgical masks, computer parts, syringes, binders filled with paper, vials of chemicals and blood. And something slippery too. My eyes widen. It just slipped past my leg, a wet, slimy thing.

"What?" Dell asks.

"Something's in here with us." My voice is hollow.

"That's just great. What is this, Star Wars?" He turns around and bangs on the wall with his left hand. "The walls are probably gonna start caving in."

"That isn't funny. Seriously, there's something in here." Yanking on the power cord I shout, "Pull us up! Pull us up!"

Leon's head appears over the ledge. "Alright. You should go up before Dell, it'd be easier—wait, what was that?"

"Aaaaah!" I fall back as an arm stretches up from the water and grabs Leon by the neck. It bangs him against the side of the pit, then pulls him down. I'm screaming myself senseless, not even caring that I'm being drenched in toxic chemicals.

It's horrifying.

A half metal, half flesh appendage writhing with live electrical cables and dozens of rats, scurrying up its side or being strangled by the wires.

"What—is—that?" I shriek.

"Who cares? It's trying to kill Leon!" Dell rips out his gun and starts firing.

A bullet strikes a part of its soft flesh and it starts to pull back. Another hit and it dives back under the water, pulling Leon over the edge. He flips over and comes hurdling towards us. A comet speeding towards the sun, a train barreling down its track, heading straight at us.

My screaming drowns out all other sounds. The rush of air as Leon tumbles through the darkness, Dell's grunts as he continually fires at the arm, forcing it back inside its hole. Leon's mouth is ripped open, but nothing comes out. Just sightless eyes open wide.

Staring down into blackness. Always blackness.

Something strange is happening, though. Their movements become heavy. Leon's fall seems to be taking forever, the water droplets float into the air. Like there is no gravity and we're walking across the moon. Everything slows down, as if time is actually stopping.

Really stopping. Stopping. What is this? Not my imagination or my life speeding past my eyes, but the actual slowing of time. Could I be hallucinating? No, no it's real. Like that time when VY2 kissed me without anyone knowing.

Dell's finger pulls back on the trigger, a grating noise fills the air, then click and a bullet drags itself out from the barrel. My hands grab my ears, the slower things become, the louder everything is.

The minute hand scraping along the clock face, scratching it, tearing it. Torturing it.

Why can't it all just stop?


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: A new character pops up in this chapter. I wonder if anyone can guess who it is? Anyways, enjoy and please review! :D**

* * *

"Enough!" I scream. Time obeys and completely stops. Sitting here with my eyes unblinking, scrunched up in a little ball with my hands pulling at my hair.

Strands fall out of my head and blood starts trickling down my cheek. My chest heaves, a plume of toxic air races down my throat, making me cough.

Can't even think, my head is too cloudy. This isn't possible; this whole thing is not possible.

"Relax."

I look up, VY2 is staring at me.

His eyes are squinted, focused on the empty air beside me. Pink hair falls in front of his golden eyes; he bites his lip and clenches his fists. Every fiber of his being shakes uncontrollably.

This is his doing.

My hands lower themselves from my ears and now I'm staring dreamily up at him. He did this; he's stopping time. Trying to wrap my mind around this, but I can't. A droplet of blood falls off my face and hangs suspended for a moment. Just like we're in a spaceship way up in the atmosphere.

"Amazing," I breathe, following the droplet as it rises higher and higher.

With my finger I prod it. It disperses, shining scarlet and fracturing into a hundred bloody pearls. In the green darkness, I feel my hair flail as the air itself beings to rise. Floating helplessly in a column of blood, my feet being lifted off the ground.

Pure ecstasy. I'm flying!

Actually flying like a bird or a plane. Holding my arms out, I am a spaceman hovering above the earth. All of my fears and problems under me, crushed under the weight of my feet.

"Quit screwing around already!" My eyes blink and I fall back into the water. VY2 glares at me, his eyes bulging out of his head. "Grab Leon, ok? That's all I ask of you."

"But how are you doing this?" I ask. Despite the sudden silence, I'm still screaming. My voice echoes throughout the room, bouncing off the metal walls and the murky water beneath me.

"Doesn't matter, just do as I say!" He shouts back. There's anger in his voice, and terror. Can see the strain in his eyes as he struggles to hold on to time. The blood droplet suddenly rockets towards the ground, disappearing in the trash heap. "Hurry up."

He's losing his grip.

So I jump up and grab Leon by the arms, then start pulling him towards the ground. He feels so light, as if he was made entirely out of air. Once he's in the water, I turn him over onto his back, keeping him afloat in the noxious liquid.

"Let go, VY2."

He nods, then collapses onto the ledge. Time collapses too. It's like it never even stopped. That spray of water shoots up and hits me in the face, Dell is still yelling, firing like a madman, and Leon has his mouth open, just like before.

Then it closes and he says, "What just happened?"

Just as I'm about to reply, the writhing arm slaps the water in front of me, sending a wave of muck over my head. A sound like an eel slipping back into its cave, and then the arm is gone. Sucked back up into its shadowy retreat.

"Ok, how did he get down here?" Dell asks, pointing at Leon with his gun. "I swear he was just falling and now he's here."

"I'm wondering the same thing," Leon mutters as he sits up and rubs his neck. It's red and raw and bleeding. His eyes are slightly crossed; this glazed look passes over his face.

"It was VY2, he stopped time for you. Now let me look at your eyes, Leon, you might have a concussion."

"Stopped time," Dell whispers. "I guess that's not completely surprising, but still." He looks up at the ledge and shouts, "I'm expecting an explanation when we get out of here!" No reply, so he turns to me. "Is he ok?"

"Not really sure," I say absentmindedly.

Not really paying attention right now; I'm examining Leon's eyes. Pull up on the eyelid, pull it back down. The sightless eyes are bulging and bloodshot; one pupil is a little bigger than the other. Yeah, he hit his head pretty hard.

"Can you stand?"

"Yes."

Tugging on his hands, I lift him to his feet. He wobbles for a moment, then digs his knuckles into his eye sockets and blinks hard.

The filthy muck squirms as I walk through it towards Dell. Something sharp just poked the bottom of my shoe, and I swear a rat is chewing on my pant leg. He stands in front of me, ankle-deep in the water, his eyes glowing dark green. When I reach for his right arm he backs away. That must be the broken one.

"Don't bother," he tells me. "We don't have time to make a splint or whatever, let's just go." Stare at him through the goggles. Silence. "Really, I'll be fine. Come on, we're losing time."

He walks over to where Leon is standing and I head towards the wall.

"VY2, hold the power cord." I yell into the darkness. A muffled grunt and then the cord shakes ever the slightest.

"You go first, Rin."

Dell is standing behind me, Leon's arm wrapped around his neck. The blind assassin is slumped against his shoulder, green eyes rolling. But he's awake, somehow he's alert. He gives me a thumbs up just as I turn around.

"What if that thing comes back?" I ask. Can't just leave them down here, easy prey for that sick, twisted glob of red eyes and sticky appendages.

"Quit worrying, just go up. We'll be fine."

"Alright." I grasp the cord and start walking up the wall. Shards of corroded metal flake off, stick to my skin. My hands tremble as I grab the ledge and haul myself up onto the freezing floor. Roll onto my back and heave a massive sigh.

This break-in is not going well. The darkness, the pit, the ferocious thing lying in wait. And only a few hours left. That wretched woman is somewhere in this building, hiding in its cold metallic walls.

Silence pricks at my ears, pupils darting up in apprehension. Everything is upside down from where I lay, the ceiling lying on the floor, the power cord hanging suspended, and VY2's body floating in nothingness. He grips the cord, growling as it begins to slide out of his hands. In the evergreen darkness I see his eyes, raw and torn.

Are those tears streaming down his face?

He twitches every few seconds, sweat beads on his forehead, his feet slip on the wet ground. In one swift movement I jump to my feet, snatching the cord from his hands and shoving him aside.

"I've got it! I've got it" I scream. Immediately, I start losing my grip.

Hear Dell from the bottom of the pit. "Tie it to something!"

Breathing hard, I run to the opposite wall, hitting the empty space around me, trying to find something. A hiss slips through my teeth. I just hit what felt like a pipe. It's scalding hot; I have to do this quickly. Feel the bare skin on my hands begin to burn as I wrap the cord around the pipe. Knotting and double knotting, plumes of steam stinging my eyes. Finally finished, and there's sweat pouring down my face.

"It's tied! Climb up!"

The cord is pulled taut as they start scaling the wall. All I hear is heavy breathing. Heavy breathing from way down in the pit and from somewhere else too, somewhere up against the wall. VY2.

Hang on, how could I have forgotten about VY2? Pushed to the ground, I discarded him like a piece of trash. It's only a matter of seconds and then I'm kneeling next to him, almost horrified at what I see.

He's scrunched up, melting into the wall. Legs splayed out in front of him, kicking and writhing, fingers driven into his eyes like he's trying to tear them out.

"What's wrong?" Geez, that was a stupid question. Shaking him I yell, "VY2 calm down, everything's ok!"

"Shut…up," he growls suddenly. "It's them…they're doing something to my software…aaah!" He clutches his head and starts screaming, then grabs my arm.

I am pulled out of the room, out of Green Lightning, out of the midlevel, and into the upper level, somewhere within the walls of the megacorporation. Edge of my vision is fringed in black, the scene before me is blurry. Men and women in long black coats, typing on unseen keyboards, looking up at me.

No wait, they're looking at VY2.

My body goes rigid.

I'm inside him, seeing through his eyes, actually seeing the megacorporation. Try to turn around, get a better look at this place, wherever this place is. The people are talking, but it sounds like they're underwater and I hear nothing, just unintelligible murmurs. One of them starts laughing, a slow muffled laugh that stretches across time and space, across the midlevel and to my very ears.

One of the black coats glares up at me, his dark eyes swimming. "Found you, VY2."

Then I'm thrown backwards, expelled from VY2's mind. A car just barreled into my stomach, I just fell three hundred feet and landed on the cold concrete below, the concrete below the Instatower. And my blood flows down the sidewalk, shards of my skull lie scattered around me. I blink, and there's the room. It all comes slowly into focus, like looking through a camera lens.

A voice. "How dare you defy us, VY2."

Another gasp and I'm kneeling with my hands over my eyes. What was that? An image in real-time, not a recording. Visions that would normally be hidden from me. But somehow I broke through this firewall and ended up on the other side. Like I was caught in the space between the stars.

Rattling breaths of pain break my train of thought. VY2. Looking down again, I see him banging his head against the wall, pulling tufts of hair out of his head.

"Stop." My hands try to control him, grabbing his wrists, shaking his shoulders. "Stop, stop. Stop it VY2, you're hurting yourself!"

More writhing, more wailing. Terrified screams come from his mouth and mine too. Hot tears roll down my face.

"Don't let them get inside you!" I shriek, and then I'm coming forward, fighting against him. He kicks me, hits me through his fog of pain. But I keep moving. His golden eyes look right past me, and I advance. Straight to his face. Where our lips meet in a desperate kiss.

It is the effort of one; I alone fall into the kiss. I clutch his shoulder and close my eyes, hoping for that sudden feeling of his lips against mine. In an act of desperation, I draw him closer, so close that our bodies touch. He is still writhing as I wind my arms around his neck. Tears fall.

Why won't he respond?

I will make him respond.

Jam my tongue into his mouth, not even realizing that there's a chance he might bite it. But who cares? Legs still splay like an epileptic puppet, so I throw myself at him. Press him against the wall, my heart is racing. My kisses are frantic, animal-like. Gasping, I run my tongue over his teeth, kiss him harder and run my fingers under his shirt. Dancing across his skin. They fall down, down, and now I can feel the waistband of his boxers. No, Rin, not there. Get your hand away from there!

"Rin…Rin."

Did he just say something?

Opening my eyes, I see him there, staring at me, his chest heaving. Poor VY2, he looks so confused.

"Rin…"

A sudden question in my brain, a question I've heard before: what ever happened to the golden calf after Aaron returned it to the fire? Where did it go?

"Please answer me, Rin," he whispers in my brain. "I want to know the answer."

"I know," I reply. And then I rest my forehead against his and take a deep breath. The golden eyes are staring at me now and they're swathed in a layer of green light. No longer glazed with pain. He's back; he didn't let them get inside him.

"Can you hear me?" I ask. Slowly he nods.

"You kissed me," he mutters in reply. "You kissed me…like really hard. And your hand…what were you doing?"

"Nothing, nothing. I just…" I stand up, feeling my face grow hot. "I just needed to save you, break the spell. Maybe I got carried away, but you were wigging out and I couldn't just watch you hurt yourself, ok?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining," he says with a slight smile. "I'm just surprised." He rises shakily to his feet and leans against the wall behind him, that sneaky grin reappearing on his face. "I didn't know you were so aggressive, Rinny. Like a little tiger, aren't you?"

Start turning around in circles, my eyes wide and my mouth half-open. Probably look like an idiot. I twist my hair with my fingers and say, "Shut up, you idiot! I just wanted to get your attention. Geez, don't read into it so much."

VY2 laughs softly. "All right, I understand. But it still makes me happy."

Before I can say anything else, a hand appears on the ledge. It's Dell, trying to pull himself up with only one movable arm.

Takes me a moment to realize what I'm looking at, then I instinctively run over and help him up. He growls and stares straight ahead with fiery eyes as his broken arm smacks the metal wall. After he's up, we help Leon. He's still shaking his head, but he seems more aware now. Not completely incapacitated.

"We really need to book it if we're gonna find Ann," Dell says as he steadies Leon.

"Agreed," Leon mutters.

VY2 steps forward. "Clearly, Dell picked the wrong door, so I think Rin and I should lead from now on."

"At least I picked a door, kid. But whatever, you want to lead, go right ahead." He grabs his gun out from his belt and tosses it to me. "To protect the fruity supercomputer," he explains, a smirk on his face. "And take the real bullets. Tranquilizing is stupid, I realize that now."

I catch the clip he throws at me. Tossing the old one aside I slide the new clip into the gun. It gives a satisfied click and I smile. Haven't held a gun in two years. Feels heavier than my knife, more powerful, more deadly. The dark black skin glows green in the darkness. My fingers absentmindedly stroke its barrel, rendering it a heartbeat, making it come alive. Gripping my new partner, I turn to the others.

"We need to move fast. There must another door that leads to an elevator or something. Now come on, Ann isn't going to wait forever."

We walk towards the door, the gun growing lighter in my hands.

* * *

This air duct is extremely small. The walls close in on me, claustrophobia starts to sink in. Feel the hot metal wall against my grazed skin. Beads of sweat roll down my face, my teeth grit in frustration. Ascending slowly, with the other three somewhere far below, waiting. Probably chilling out by the elevator, waiting for me to turn the power on. Arms start shaking as I brace myself against the duct.

Stupid people.

When we first came to the lift, we had just stood there, staring at the broken button like idiots. Dell had tried to pry the doors open. But of course nothing happened. VY2 attempted to will the power on, but once he did, the whole building lit up like a Christmas tree and he shut it off. So what do we do?

Send Rin, the smallest of the group, up into the air duct system to try to hotwire the elevator.

What a wonderful idea.

So now I'm trapped inside this steel box, breathing dry, recycled air and heating up like a piece of overrun hardware. My blood is boiling. All rational thought goes up in smoke as it evaporates from my brain. Hot. So very hot.

The knife caught between my teeth illuminates a dim path. Nothing but featureless walls and streaks of oil trickling down in thin, black trails. Wires, I'm looking for wires. They have to be somewhere, maybe inside the walls. Lizards run by and crawl in between the cracks. Lime green eyes peer out of the soupy darkness. Broods of rat-tailed reptiles with pointed tongues scurry up my arms, through my hair. Takes every fiber of my being not to scream. Have to keep going. Slowly I shuffle my feet up the duct, moving my hands first.

A single thought replays over and over in my head like a broken record player. The image of Leon leaning against the elevator doors, flicking a lighter open and closed. He found it in one of the rooms, hidden under a pile of papers on some unknown person's desk.

"The flame is so intense I can almost see it," he had said, the warm light turning his face orange.

I can still see him standing against those doors, staring sightlessly at the flickering flame.

"I can almost see it, almost see it."

Sweat trickles down my temple.

"Burning, smoldering."

So hot.

"Fire, Rin."

Sweat in my eyes, I'm cooking in my own skin. Have to find those wires.

"The flame is so hot, just like the knife that was shoved into my eyes."

"Aargh!" My head just smacked into the top of the duct.

The impact makes me slide down a bit, my hands sliding down the metal. The knife slips between my teeth, catch it an instant before it falls, so now I'm biting the back of the blade. Shaking uncontrollably, I prepare to turn around. Shuffle my hands around the duct very slowly, gasping for breath as I do so. Wires dangle in front of me, living cables that glow green in my goggles.

Ok, take a deep breath.

All at once, I brace my feet against the duct walls and grab the knife from between my teeth with one hand. Cut the darker one first, then the light green one. This system is more complicated than I thought. So many wires and plugs and switches.

"Hurry up!"

I almost slip when VY2's voice echoes through the duct. "Shut up, I've almost got it!" The two wires hiss when they connect, then I cut another two, connect them, flick a switch and bundle them all together, all jammed into a single plug point about the width of my thumb.

His voice comes again. "It's working. Great job, kitty!"

Roll my eyes and start sliding down the walls. There's a sharp skidding noise and then I'm at the bottom of the chute, hands scraped raw. The elevator door pings open just as I hit the floor. Dell takes my hand and pulls me forward.

"Good work, kid."

"Thanks," I reply, fishing the lizards out of my hair. "How much time do we have left?"

"Hour and a half," Leon says from inside the elevator. We follow him and the doors close behind us.

He's still playing with that stupid lighter. Flicking it on and off. I take my goggles off, blinking in the harsh light, and stare at it. On then off again. A winking eye, a flicker of hope in the center of this dilapidated district.

* * *

Music comes from the speakers in the elevator. It's so quiet in here and the music's so cliché that I almost laugh. Dell hits the button for the top most floor, then sits back against the wall and sighs. We're all silent, listening to the beeps as we make our way up forty floors.

Everyone looks so tired.

Leon standing with the lighter, eyes still glazed, blood on his neck and ringing his forehead. VY2's lying on the floor, staring up at the circular lights in the ceiling. The tile is black and glittering, just like the night sky I dream about. Little black diamonds that twinkle in the low lights. His hair melts into the floor like candy on a hot summer's day. Lights reflected in his eyes, the data that composes his body rippling slightly.

He turns his head and looks at me with his golden eyes. I'm sitting opposite him. Don't know how it got there, but my hand is stroking his hair, stroking it softly in the silence. The screens in the elevator wall display my reflection. Me sitting here with VY2 by my side, his eyes closed peacefully as I comb through his pink hair with my fingers. Never realized how beautiful he is.

The elevator slowly rises, rattling as it does. Who knows how many oblivious Green Lightning employees we're passing on our journey, all wandering in the blackout, flashlights bobbing, lost in the darkness.

A thought just occurred to me. This is insane. This whole thing is mental. I'm mental. Ann might not even be here today, rollers could be waiting for us at the top.

I hear rain high up in the atmosphere. It pounds the roof and the ground beneath Green Lightning's feet. Higher and higher we climb. Feels like we're going to break through the earth's ceiling and fly off into space. I wish we would.

Click, click, click, click. We keep climbing. The music coming from the speakers bothers my ears. It's calm and lulling, a woman's voice singing softly in some language I can't understand. Makes me feel empty.

Like I'm a husk of a person floating through the seas of people in this city, hopping across the tops of the umbrellas and feeling numb as the freezing rain pelts my skin.

Another beep makes me look up. The forty is lit up on the number panel, and the elevator suddenly stops. In unison, all of us jump up. A cold and clinical female voice says, "Fortieth floor," and then the doors slide open.

What I see: A blonde haired woman, presumably Ms. Ann, Green Lightning secretary, lying dead on the floor.

* * *

"She's dead," I say. The gun almost slips out of my hands, my blue eyes wide and empty.

"I know," Dell whispers back.

"I think we all know that." Leon walks past me and towards the woman's lifeless body. He prods her with his shoe, then crouches and stares pensively at the floor. "Rin, come here."

"What?"

Her body is in front of me, lying in a pool of blood, a gun wound in her chest. Mouth slack, eyes closed, hands curled slightly and almost clawing at the floor.

Leon feels her neck, then finds her lanyard and tears it off. There's nothing inside the plastic, not a badge or identity card. He taps the empty plastic over and over. "Clearly, somebody doesn't want anyone to know this woman's identity. Does she have blonde hair?"

"Yes."

"Blue eyes."

"Can't tell, they're closed."

He sighs and shakes his head. "Then open them."

"You do it. I don't wanna touch her," I say in disgust.

"She's dead, she won't mind. I'll poke her eyes out trying to find them. Just do it, Rin."

"Fine, whatever."

Close up, she doesn't look that bad. Almost like she's in a really deep sleep or in a really deep coma. My fingers tremble as they approach her eyelids. Contact is made and a shiver runs down my spine. Her skin is so cold, colder than Len's or Kiyoteru's or Gumi's. Colder than the rain and the metal and the concrete. It feels like ice.

Her eyelids crinkle as I lift them up. Hear a popping sound as the skin is sucked off the eyeball, like when an octopus pulls one of its suction cups off the tank wall.

There are octopi in the Pacifica Hotel tanks, also in one of the midlevel aquariums. In the Roxio District, where I used to live. And all of them have giant heads and dozens of tentacles. I read in a science book once that they're supposed to have eight, oh well.

"Focus," Leon tells me. I nod. "Now what color are they?"

"Light blue."

He stands up and adjusts his trench coat, growling through gritted teeth. "Yep, that's her."

"Wonderful," VY2 exclaims. "Just wonderful!"

"This doesn't make any sense!" Dell starts pacing and running his hand through his hair. "Why would she be dead? Did she know we were coming and then commit suicide?"

Leon shakes his head. "Impossible. Corporates don't do that. They think they're too good for it. You should know that, Ring01."

"Oh sorry. I forgot," Dell says sardonically. "I never knew the megacorporation had rules regarding suicide taped to their bulletin board. I didn't even know they had a bulletin board. Now what I—" He pauses, then grabs VY2 and throws him into the elevator, smashing the lights overhead so that the lift goes dark.

"What are you doing?" VY2 shouts.

"Shut up!" Dell turns to us. "There's somebody behind that door."

In an instant I raise the gun, pointing it towards the door across the room. A few seconds of agonizing silence, then the handle turns and a man walks out.

A man dressed in a pinstripe suit, a pair of dark black sunglasses covering his eyes. He has short, blonde hair. It's messy, with white hairclips in it. Hairclips, that's kind of…girly.

"She would have told you everything. That's why she had to die," he says suddenly. Nobody says anything and the man smiles. "She was new to the company, if you couldn't already tell. We don't use people of any importance to handle these kinds of jobs. It's below their pay grade, far below."

"The company?" I ask. My voice is loud and the gun is pointed at his chest. The stupid smug smile is back on his face.

"You people call it the megacorporation. What a stupid name, such a mouthful. You make the company sound so evil, too."

"That's because it is," Dell growls.

"It doesn't matter what you say, Honne. You're biased. Does anyone else have anything intelligent to say?"

He talks so fast that it's hard to comprehend what he's saying. Dell doesn't even respond. But somehow I manage to open my mouth. "Who are you?"

"That isn't intelligent at all. But it makes sense, an idiotic question from an idiotic girl."

"I'm not an idiot. Answer the question or you're gonna lose a lung." I walk up to him and press the gun into his chest.

Don't know if I imagined it, but I think he just flinched.

"But you already know the answer, idiot girl." His lips pull back in a wicked sneer, showing his perfectly whitened teeth.

"You're the vice president of the megacorporation," Leon answers from behind me.

"I wasn't asking you, but you are correct."

"But you're just a kid," Dell mutters.

"To you maybe, but didn't I already tell you? It doesn't matter what you say. To be honest, it doesn't matter what any of you say. I'm still in charge, the company still controls the city, and VY2 is still out of your reach. And I mean the actual computer VY2, the hardware. Not the one who has been helping you."

Something just occurred to me, and I find myself smiling. "Wait, you don't know how he's helping us. All you know is that he's with us, but you don't know how or what he's telling us. That's right, isn't it?"

The man sighs dramatically. "Maybe. Maybe not. Unfortunately it is impossible to see what VY2 hides from us, so I'm not exactly sure what he's doing. But it doesn't matter, the company was able to sense his presence in this building earlier. When he saved the blind idiot from falling to his death."

"But he stopped time. There's no way you could know that." I push the gun farther into his chest.

"You really are idiotic. He can't stop time. Sure he's powerful, but he can't manipulate the very fabric of space. He just messed around with the air, made it thicker than it should be. When he did that, the company was alerted, and I was sent out here to deal with the liability."

There's no way VY2 just 'messed with the air'. He stopped time, he's done it before. But last time, the megacorporation didn't know...what's going on?

The man smiles again. "Ms. Ann was the liability, by the way."

"You're disgusting." Can feel his sternum under the gun barrel. "I should put a bullet in you."

He shrugs. "Why? Because I'm smart, industrious, resourceful? You're just jealous because I have power and you don't. You wouldn't be killing me to avenge Ann, you'd be doing it out of jealousy. You're just a jealous, idiotic girl who hates a company she doesn't even understand."

Suddenly, I'm hissing at him, my teeth are bared and I'm digging the gun deeper and deeper into his flesh. My other hand comes around and slaps him across the face. "You suck! Stupid megacorporation lackey!"

Hit him again. Again. Again. And again.

Next thing I know, he's on the floor and I'm on top of him, pummeling his face with my fists. No one is trying to stop me. It's nice.

The black sunglasses crack under my hands and fall to the floor. I gasp, my hands freezing in midair. His eyes are blue, bright electric blue. Just like mine.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Please review :). **

* * *

"Why do your eyes look like mine?" I whisper dreamily.

"You don't have a monopoly on blue eyes." He searches blindly for his glasses, gritting his teeth, his tongue in between his teeth. "But I do have a monopoly on power, freedom too."

"No, no you don't, kid." Dell walks up and pulls me off the megacorporation vice president. Then he whispers in my ear, "Relax, Rin," and looks back at the guy on the floor. "Your boss has the monopoly, kid, not you. Who is he, your dad?"

"That's funny." The man stands up, dusting his suit off with gloved hands. "Now I have to leave. The company will wonder what's happened to me. Will you people let me go or shoot me in the head like the disgusting animals that you are?"

"Neither," I say and then shoot him in the foot. He yelps and falls to the floor, clutching his ankle.

"Idiotic lowlife!" he howls.

"You're gonna have to get used to us idiots, because you're coming with us." I turn to the others. "Anyone have some rope?"

Dell grabs my shoulder. Grips it too hard, his metal hand almost breaking my bones. "Really?"

"Yes. We can't let the megacorporation get to him first. He can be our hostage."

"There's some rope over here," Leon says from the other side of the room. "Well, they're more like power cords, but they'll work."

"Awesome. Toss them here."

The man grunts and groans as I wrap the wires around his wrists.

Dell crouches down next to me. "I have one question for you," he says to the man. "Why was it so easy to capture you?"

"I honestly don't know." His blue eyes are cast down.

He heaves a sigh and the façade seems to melt away. The whole I'm-a-scary-megacorporation-man-hear-me-roar thing just goes away. Like he just cracked and the mold fell off in two pieces. They tumble to the floor and shatter; he flinches when they do.

Kind of feel bad for him, I can tell that he worked hard on that little speech. Probably stood in front of a mirror and everything, staring at his reflection and those bright blue eyes.

Dell smiles sadly. "Your company has abandoned you, kid. They did it to me, too, just accept it." He runs his hand through his hair and sighs.

"Idiot," the vice president says. But it's a half-hearted "idiot", like he can't summon the strength.

"I'm not the one on the floor." Dell looks at me. "Let's go. The lights will be on soon."

"Right. Leon, help me with him."

Together, we drag the vice president to the elevator. The emergency floor lights are beginning to activate. They're greasy yellow, dust motes swirling in their beams.

VY2 looks up at us, expressionless.

"VY2!?" the man shrieks. "You, you're human!"

"That's all I ever wanted you guys to tell me. Feels so good, I might just tear up." He stares at me. "Take us down, kitty."

Press the button and we start descending. Down to the bottom of Green Lightning, where its feet rest upon solid ground. But up at the top, on the fortieth floor, its head roams the smog filled sky, existing in a fantasy of razor blades and wires, dead secretaries and young vice presidents. We leave it all behind.

* * *

The ride down:

"How did you know I was the company's vice president?"

Leon shrugs and flicks open his lighter. "Heard Ann on the phone once. She said, 'hello, vice president,' and then I heard your voice."

"She called me in front of you? That's extremely unprofessional! Calling me during office hours, right in front of some scummy assassin she got off the street."

Flick. The flame bursts out of the igniter, painting the elevator wall orange. "We were not in this building."

"Where were you then?" The VP sounds anxious now. Like a little kid trying to wriggle his way out of a punishment or a lie. Antsy. Nervous. All wrapped up in a wiry mess he can't break out of. That's funny; he really is in a wiry mess.

Leon keeps looking at the flame with sightless eyes. "At Echo Lake, the cyber café with the big red neon letters."

"Sounds like you were on a date," VY2 chuckles, raising his eyebrows.

"I was."

Dead silence.

Then: "What!?" We almost all say it at once, excluding Dell.

He puts his metal hand on Leon's shoulder. "I'm sorry, man."

"Doesn't matter." The lighter clicks shut. "There was never any real attachment. Just two puppets looking for a way to cut the strings. She found her way. Death."

"That's a little morbid," VY2 says. He goes to grab the lighter from Leon's hand, but the blind assassin pulls it back.

"It is morbid, I'll admit that. But it's true." The flame is reflected in his light green eyes. "She was beautiful, though. If things were different, she would be the one coming back with us, not you, Mr. Vice President."

Don't know what's gotten into me, but somehow I'm down on the floor, next to the VP. My gun is aimed at his temple and he's shivering. "Apologize for killing Leon's girlfriend. Do it, or this time I really will kill you."

"Stop it, Rin," Dell orders. He's got his paternal voice switched on. It's irritating me right now.

"He works for them," I hiss through gritted teeth.

"I used to work for them, too. Just leave the guy alone. He's already been screwed over by the company he trusts."

"They didn't screw me over, ok!" The man flails his bound hands, banging them against the wall.

Now he's stomping his one good foot on the floor, smacking his whole body against the elevator, ramming his head into it.

Quickly becoming hysterical, all the while yelling, "Stop saying that! Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

Tears start streaking down his face. Tears, legitimate tears. Like the ones that people cry. Crystal tears that drip from his luminous blue eyes like raindrops. There's sadness in those eyes, one that latches onto my spine and pierces the nerves hiding in my vertebrae. A shiver races across my back, making the hairs stand up on my arms. That intense hatred slowly ebbs away. Sand leaking out of a broken hourglass. He looks so alone.

"Are you scared?" I ask him.

"You just had a gun up at my head. A gun. And now you're asking me if I'm afraid?"

"Can you answer the question, or what?"

He flinches under my gaze. Pieces of blonde hair fall into his eyes, breaking his carefully maintained composure. That image of a perfect business suit complete with black sunglasses is cracked like a broken mirror. Things come undone and the forced fire in his eyes fades away.

"I might be."

"You shouldn't be. The underground is like a paradise, you won't even believe it when you see it. I'm…sorry about the gun. We won't hurt you, I promise." I'm right in front of him, so close that my bangs brush his forehead.

Blue eyes meld into a molten conglomerate of raw energy. Blue, star-filled energy powered by the only dream that we share, to be free.

"I never break my promises." I say this almost inaudibly, but he understands.

The muscles in his neck tense and he withers against the wall. He looks down at a silver pin fastened to his tie.

"Can you take this off for me?" His voice is a meager whimper that slices through the elevator silence.

I lean forward and rip the pin out. Material feels like silk, guess the megacorporation really knows how to put on the ritz. Holding it in the light, I can see what it is. A black bull's head with deadly curving horns that remind me of the devil. A black bar winds its way around the left horn, then fans out to form a single rectangle. The rectangle is blank.

"This is the megacorporation logo," I breathe, staring at the VP. "What's the name? I've been waiting forever to know this, could you tell—"

"I don't know it. Only the president knows. None of us…" He bites his lip and looks away. "We don't get to know what it is, or why we do what we do, or what our real salaries are, or the name of the person we just hired a hit man to kill. I don't know anything, and they don't whisper in my ear anymore. It's so silent."

"Been silent for a while, hasn't it?" Dell says. "That's how it was for me. First the silence, then it all went downhill from there."

"Silence is evil." VY2's voices ricochets off the elevator walls. "Like a cancer." His words make my heart race.

The man looks up at Dell, tears clinging to his abnormally long eyelashes.

"You were right, they have abandoned me." He looks down at the floor. "They have abandoned me…"

And then he falls against my shoulder, bursting into tears. Loud, angry tears that you cry when all your friends just turned their backs on you. He's not a scary business man anymore, just a little kid crying into my shoulder.

The elevator keeps going down.

* * *

The lights are back on. The outside ones have been on for about fifteen minutes when we finally escape from Green Lightning. No one saw or heard us, plus Dell was able to snatch some files off a few of the desks and from a safe he found hidden in a cabinet.

It turned out to be a pretty good break in after all.

And now we're walking, our megacorporation hostage limping along behind us.

He says he's never actually walked around in the midlevel. Through the window of his vice president's office, he says that he could see the sprawling metropolis below. All of the metallic skyscrapers and glass buildings. Spires and black rooftops and the millions of tenement halls all fanning out around him.

The greasy graffiti splattered on the billboards was visible from his desk, and the shadowy inhabitants that existed under the plate would look up at that giant window, seeing his silhouette against the pane. They'd probably see him holding a cup of coffee; he says that he likes coffee. He likes it a lot. Doesn't like it black or bitter, like I expected, but rather filled with radical amounts of sugar.

As we pass through the fringes of the Skyhawk District, he tells us that he loves candy too, but they never let him eat it during office hours. No ring pops or Big League Chew, Sour Patch Kids or Reese's Pieces. His favorite is gummi bears, though. The red ones.

"I prefer the colorless ones, personally," Leon says.

"Really?" VY2 hops up next to him. "I think green's the best."

"Who cares?" Dell barks from the front of the group. "All of you just shut up!"

His arm is hurting him, I can tell.

Funny, it's the same arm that was shot a few days ago.

It just hit me. That was only a few days ago. How does time do that? Pass so slowly like the hands are being dragged across the face? A lifetime goes by in an hour in this city. Everyone lives at least five hundred lives while they're here.

The sound of rotor blades makes me flinch. High up in the clouds, the helicopters are making their nightly rounds, scanning the earth with their massive searchlights. I remember seeing them from my apartment in the Roxio District. They'd fly so low to the ground; the two lights in either wing making you go blind. No one would really pay them any mind. The calmer you seemed, the less likely it was you'd get a giant spotlight on your back.

Stupid lights are just trying to scare people.

The VP stops walking and looks up at the sky. "What's that sound?"

"Helicopter," I reply.

"They're looking for me." He sounds almost hopeful.

"No, it's just routine. The rollers do it every night."

"Rollers?"

"Cops."

"You people have a lot of strange names for things."

"Yes, we do, now shut up!" Dell roars.

The VP jumps, looking at me with wary blue eyes. "He's mean," he mutters.

"You're going to have to get over it," Leon says in his monotone voice. "Don't forget, you are still our hostage. Now walk."

The VP falls into silence.

Elbowing him in the ribcage, I ask, "How are old are you?"

"Twenty-five."

"You're pretty young to be a vice president. I'm fourteen. So what's your name? Mine's Rin."

"Rinto. And you called me young? You're only fourteen!"

I crack a smile. "Age doesn't matter in the underground. Anyone can cause a little chaos. Anyways, what kind of a name is Rinto?"

"We practically have the same name so I wouldn't be talking," he says super-fast and then walks out in front of me.

Takes me a while to realize what he said, he talks so fast, but then I start laughing. He's not so bad, this guy. This vice president with messy blonde hair and eyes just like mine, wearing a ridiculous pinstripe suit and a nervous expression on his face.

Huh, Rin and Rinto…we do have similar names. Weird.

It's funny; I had a gun up to his face a few hours ago. Now he's walking with us, hands bound by red power cords. But he doesn't really feel like a prisoner, not to me, at least.

"Look!" VY2 is pointing up towards the night sky.

My eyes widen.

"Where do they come from?" I ask no one in particular.

Fireworks are lighting up the night. Illustrious explosions filled with artificial starlight. Red, blue, yellow and orange. Cracks that sound like cannon fire resound in my ears. Rinto jumps every time one goes off. Leon's eyes are turned up towards the clouds, mine are too.

They're beautiful. Bursts of color that shine and explode in fitful seizures of sound, lapping at the city like cosmic waves. Makes my heart jump. Through the mists of the city atmosphere, the fireworks ripple on the sky's watery surface. And I'm under the ocean, struggling to breathe and swim through the mountains of trash and rivers of toxic waste.

Electric seahorses and fiber optic blades of seaweed float around me. If I could just get to the surface, break through the clouds and finally see the stars, everything would be perfect. I reach up and try to touch the sky, but I can't reach.

Someone's hand grabs mine. A surprisingly warm hand. VY2's.

"I could help you see the stars."

I look at him in disbelief. "No you couldn't."

"I can do whatever I want." He holds my hand against his chest. He's so warm.

I don't move close to him, but I don't back up, either. Just stand here while the fireworks light up the streets, casting both our shadows across the concrete. They stretch out along the sidewalk, fading as the neon lights slice them to pieces.

There's a clock over the entrance to an apartment building. A pair of bright blue neon eyes sits atop it, shifting back and forth. It's midnight.

"1986," I whisper.

"Going to be the best year of our lives."

I say nothing. All I can do is secretly hope that he's right. With my face turned towards the distant stars, I say, "Please, let him be right. Please, let VY2 be right."

* * *

"That is not why people do bad things."

"Yes, it is. The company has done extensive research on this and it's a proven fact that access is what causes all of humanity's problems."

I roll my eyes, he does the same. It's like looking into a mirror, except I'm seeing a boy instead of a girl. Rinto glares at me from across the table, trying to hold my gaze, but my eyes are still more powerful and he looks away.

"Can you two quit arguing, I'm trying to work here." Dell is typing, right arm in a sling, eyes glued to the screen.

They've been glued like that for the past ten hours. He's creating some kind of super virus, that's what he told me, anyway. Something that can break through the megacorporation's labyrinth of firewalls. The Copernicus Drive hums within the tower, glowing bright blue and turning the desk below it into a reflection of a perfect sky.

Kiyoteru pokes at the screen with the back of a pencil. "You're not doing the algorithms right," he says while pushing his glasses up. "Seriously, Dell, looks like a script kiddie is doing this."

Dell growls menacingly. "Shut up, kid! If you weren't breathing down my neck the whole time I could concentrate! I'm the best hacker in this godforsaken city, now back off. Besides, this is how you do it if you want to create a metamorphic virus."

"Metamorphic?" Kiyoteru's grey eyes go wide. "That's amazing. How many lines of Assembly language code do you have?"

"2,100 right now, but the majority of that is just the engine."

He looks at me and mouths that incomprehensible number. I just nod, smiling. He's finally realizing that Dell's a pretty radical hacker.

"See kid," he says, looking askance at Kiyoteru's perplexed face. "You don't always know what you're talking about. If you shut up and watch, you might just learn a few things."

And much to my surprise, Kiyoteru obeys, sitting down backwards in his black rolling chair, hands gripping the back vice-like.

"Now back to our conversation," Rinto says in his supersonic way of talking. I sigh and pull my feet up against my chest.

It's hard to believe that New Year's Eve was only two weeks ago, but it's true, and Rinto has become more of a…friend than a hostage.

We have taken up a habit of debating since then. At this moment, we're arguing about what causes conflict, and I don't mean conflict as in two gamers arguing over who used a cheat code or who let their older brother, who's a professional gamer, drive their car in Autoduel and obliterate all the other opponents for them, which would make me mad, too. I mean real conflict, like robberies and shootouts and murders.

"It's accessibility," Rinto explains. "When people are allowed to buy guns, they buy guns and end up shooting someone. When people are able to get to a drug dealer, they buy drugs and end up dying of an overdose. If we eliminated all of these access points, then everything would be fine."

"You're talking about eliminating temptation, which is impossible. You know what causes conflict? People. People will always find a way. And you can't just eliminate humanity, so the proven fact is this: we will always have conflict. That's how it is."

"Whatever, Rin," he mutters, crossing his arms.

Leon is sitting next to me. "Looks like she got you, Mr. Vice President. And I'm about to get you, too."

Rinto shakes his head. "Please don't."

"Too late," Leon says. He turns to Dell. "Can I borrow that apple you're eating?"

"It's only a core, just so you know." He tosses it to Leon without even glancing at him.

"It doesn't matter, I can't see it anyways." Holding the apple core in front of his face, he turns back to us. "Rin's right. It's not accessibility's fault that we do bad things, it's our own." He dangles the core in front of Rinto. "If I told you not to take the apple, but I didn't tell you why, what would you be thinking about doing?"

"Well, uh, taking the apple."

"Why?" Leon inquires.

"I guess…because I don't know why I can't take it, and I want to know what happens if I do."

"Exactly. It's forbidden, so you want it."

Rinto's electric eyes start wandering, like he's trying to process all of this. "But all of you in the low-level are the same way!" he exclaims. "You're trying to break into the company because it's against the law; you do things because they're not allowed."

"I never said we weren't like that." Leon flashes a toothy grin. "We all admit it, we like trying to get things that we're not allowed to have. That's what hackers and assassins do. Look for information, weapons, illegal hardware and software systems that the authorities have put out of our reach." The apple is tossed up into the air as he makes his way around the table. "But the company's biggest downfall is that they believe that they can trick people into thinking VY2 is a god, no offense to you personally, man."

"Oh don't worry about it, Leon!" VY2 says happily.

"Well, it's worked pretty well," Rinto says. "A lot of people worship VY2."

"Why don't you take a look around, buddy," Leon growls in Rinto's ear. "Do _we_ look like a bunch of mindless sheep to you?"

"Um, no." Rinto's face turns bright red.

Len bursts out laughing. He's sitting on a stack of plastic storage containers against the opposite wall.

Len...I haven't missed our "relationship". We've grown a little distant these past couple weeks. Him always gone, me staying here, helping Dell and talking to Rinto, and growing even closer to VY2. Gumi told me that she saw Len with another girl, a robot girl with short pink hair and an ugly scar across her abdomen, wearing sky-high kicks and an itty bitty skirt that exposed her voluptuous thighs.

She's an exotic dancer, that's what Gumi told me.

That's why it doesn't bother me, because she's not just some regular girl he met at Tag or at the Pacifica, some wallflower that he fell in love with. It's not a romantic love story, it's a gross, animalistic relationship that has nothing to do with sweet, innocent love. But do I regret kissing him? Not really. We never went any farther than that, so I have nothing to be ashamed of. A small part of me thinks that's why he went out looking for a pink haired, high heel wearing bimbette in the first place. Besides, it's the underground; you can't expect people to commit. Like Dell's sister said, nothing's permanent in the low level.

Who cares anyways? I have VY2, and in my mind, he's worth a hundred of Len.

I like staying here all the time, listening to Leon talk. He's literate and well-spoken and knows so much more about life and the city than I do. He's become like a teacher.

Ever since Green Lightning, he's been this way, more open and less stoic, like he really does have a personality hidden somewhere in that mess of perfect blonde hair.

And Rinto, oh Rinto. He's like a small animal, kind of like a rabbit. All timid and jumpy, blue eyes flitting around whenever he's nervous. And he's so emotional, which is so ironic that I can't even wrap my head around it. Whenever we debate like this, he's so flexible too. He listens to me, to Leon, listens to reason when we tell him that the megacorporation is much more sinister than he thinks.

And he ends up agreeing with us about most things. It's like he was wearing a mask while at his company, a brittle mask showing a man who said all the right things and did what he was told. But it was so weak that we crushed it the moment he came into the elevator with us.

I always thought that if I ever ended up in a room with a megacorporation employee, I would either claw my eyes out in frustration or kill them. In my imagination, they always had this steadfast loyalty to their employer, like the brainwashed characters you read about in books.

Me and VY2 read that George Orwell book together last week, the one called 1984. The members of the Party, those people who blindly follow orders and believe whatever they were told, that's how I pictured the megacorporation employees.

But they're not like that. Rinto says that they always gossiped within those ominous metal walls. Women talked about cheating husbands and affairs with the higher ups, men talked about how the real fun was in the underground, and everyone talked about too low wages and unnecessary killings said to be done in the basement. It's a real corporation, not this phantom group that the midlevel has made up just to scare itself. It's just a bunch of people running around like rats, just trying to make a living.

None of them live on the upper level, Rinto told us. Not even he did. Only the president, the scientists, and the doctors do. This tells me one thing, that they are definitely the ones who are running the megacorporation. Those people I saw in that vision at Green Lightning, the lab coats typing at unseen keyboards and laughing maniacally, those aren't the employees. They're the elite, and the business suits are nothing more than peons.

"The megacorporation is too arrogant for its own good."

Leon's voice rips me from my thoughts. I flinch, but nobody notices.

He's sitting next to Rinto now, waggling the apple core like a wayward finger. "You have a chance here. You're free from their clutches. Take advantage of this opportunity, Rinto. We could have easily left you tied up, or killed you, but we didn't."

Rinto absentmindedly pulls at his tie. Why he still wears that I don't know, he changed out of his suit weeks ago. He looks at Leon. "I-I know. Thank you…" Then he looks at VY2. "You're a supercomputer, tell me, am I on the right side now?"

VY2 shrugs. "How should I know? The megacorporation is definitely evil, but if we're doing the right thing, I don't know. Like Leon said, just be glad you're alive."

"I'm definitely happy I'm alive," Rinto says with a nervous laugh. He swallows hard. "And hopefully I won't be dying anytime soon."

"Oh, I hope not." Gumi's suddenly leaning against the doorframe. Guess she finished coloring her hair. It's even greener than before, fluorescent and glittering like a neon sign. She winks at Rinto. "We have to get to know each other before any of that happens."

Then she walks slowly out of the doorway, flipping her hair dramatically and tapping her fingernails on the frame. When she's gone, we all burst into laughter. Crazy, manic laughter that makes my stomach hurt and tears go streaming down Kiyoteru's face.

Then Leon gets up to go to the kitchen, offering everyone a drink and asking me if I want a bottle of vodka. This makes me laugh.

Rinto gives me a nervous look, but I just wave him off and say, "It's a really long story."

And then he smiles, genuinely smiles for the first time since he's been here. I no longer see those perfectly whitened teeth; they're just normal teeth now, pieces of bone that everyone has in their mouth. His canine tooth is chipped too, never noticed that before.

Something hits me. All of the sudden and all at once. The eyes, the smile, the way he cocks his head when he's thinking. He reminds me of Rei, my brother. Obviously, it's not him, but he looks like him. Not in that random doppelganger sort of way, in a family resemblance kind of way. Like we're related. But then he looks away from me and that feeling's gone.

A shiver tickles my spine, makes my fingers go numb. Suddenly feel the walls around me, the ceiling caving in and the floor pushing up. Pull the zipper of my vest a little ways down my neck, trying to get some air, ease the claustrophobia. The zipper falls against my bare skin, the chrome is cold. Chilling. Like ice. Feel my eyes go wide in shock. Then a hand touches my shoulder. It's warm.

"VY2."

My pupils slide across my eyeballs, settling on his pale face. He's smiling at me, strands of pink hair obscuring his golden eyes.

"You look like you're feeling caged," he says softly.

All I can do is nod.

"Cats like you were never meant to feel that way. Take a walk with me. I have something to show you."

Taking my hand, he practically drags me out of there and straight to the front door. Nobody notices us leaving; they're too busy watching Dell work his hacker magic. The door snaps shut behind us and I feel a gust of cold air against my back.

Pause. Take a deep breath. The air tastes like the inside of a meat locker, but I don't mind. In the distance, smoke rises from the shopping district, forming a thin layer over the city. We walk past the townhouses, ducking under the low hanging wires that stretch across the street. During this time of year, all of the new hardware comes out. The double screened computers and the sick towers with the spinning engines that glow green. Commodore just came out with a new motherboard, one with 64 kilobit× 4 bit DRAM chips. And there are the new extension cords and the splitters that can steal your neighbors WiFi.

I heard that one of the other hacking companies, the one called Python, is even selling a virus to the general public now. So much stuff, so much change. Too bad all of it will be obsolete within the next month.

A spark plug suddenly hits me in the face. The sharp metal slices my cheek and a drop of blood slides down to my chin. It smells like copper wires.

"I'm surprised you're not scarred, you cut your face so much."

Funny, I forgot VY2 was even here. I touch my skin and look at the bright red stains on my fingertips. "I think the same thing sometimes."

I look up. Wait, where are we? There's no one here, just vacant buildings infested with wires. How far have we walked?

My eyes wander over our surroundings. We're in a silicon forest, clumps of fiber optic flowers poke up from cracks in the concrete, winding vines of multicolored cables strangle the lampposts. A pile of discarded microchips shimmers like a swarm of bejeweled bees. And there are misshapen cats creeping in the alleyway, all products of experimentation with prosthetic limbs, missing eyes, missing faces. The one without eyes turns to me, reminds of Leon.

"It's not really a forest. It's all fake, isn't it?" I say to VY2.

He says nothing.

Few moments of silence, then that weird mystical feeling slips away and I feel my eyes focus again. It's like this place put a spell on me or something, wherever this place is.

"So, where are we anyways?" I ask, craning my neck and looking for street signs.

"Not sure, there aren't any security cameras in the low-level. I don't have dominion here."

"And people are very happy about that. Wait, I see something."

There's a flickering neon sign over one of the abandoned buildings. I run over, slipping in the puddles of ink that pool in the street. Rip some of the wires off the building face and there's a broken sign that says, Clovertown Daycare Center.

"It's an old daycare," I shout. "We must be in Trinity Park."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Sorry for the late updates, guys, I've been really busy with schoolwork lately. Anyways, I would like to dedicate this chapter to **japaneserockergirl **since there will be some explanation into VY2's creation. Also, thank you** roosewe **for the review since I couldn't PM you a thank you lol. Please enjoy and please review! :)**

* * *

"What's Trinity Park?"

I almost jump out of my skin; he came up behind me so quickly. His breath touches my neck, making goose bumps run down my spine.

"Well, it's an abandoned section of the underground. Back when the low-level was first established, the surfacers would come down here and go on killing sprees. But after a while, they became too drugged up to remember that anyone was down here, so the low-level rebuilt. This part was preserved though, kinda like a memorial for everyone who died." I take a step back, bumping into VY2 as I do, and look up at the sign. "Don't know how we got here, though. It's like three miles from where we live."

VY2 shrugs. "I 'm not sure either. Guess we just got…distracted."

I feel the heat rising in my face. "Yeah, distracted." I look askance at him. He's standing next to me, perfectly still, just staring at the sign as it flashes on and off like a dying firefly. And here I am, shifting restlessly from one foot to the other as a single thought replays endlessly in my mind: the time I kissed him at Green Lightning.

I had seen…something. A room, doctors. I had heard…things. Laughter, rumbling machines. And I had felt…everything. Fear, loneliness, hatred. What was that place? VY2's heart, the resting place of his soul? That was the inside of the megacorporation, I know that much. But I want to know where exactly I was. That place, it had felt awful, like being trapped inside a cage. No wonder VY2 wants to die…no wonder he wants me to kill him…

I have unconsciously shuffled closer to him, but he doesn't notice. He's still staring at that sign. So I walk up to the rusted double doors and say, "Let's go inside."

* * *

It's a simple building. One giant room, two bathrooms, and a little front desk with a bell still sitting atop the counter. Children used to play here, how odd. Chipped wallpaper, moldy carpets, vacant blackboards with nail marks scratched across the surface. The alphabet is painted along the wall, all happy letters with smiling faces.

I don't like this.

"This is weird," VY2 says, cupping the chalk dust in his hands. "Like we're in a graveyard or something."

"Your mind's always on death, isn't it?" I say sarcastically.

He laughs, his entire body shaking. "You know me too well, Rinny. But let's not think about sad stuff right now. We're in a daycare, let's play!"

He grabs my hand and now we're running through the halls. Playing tag in an abandoned daycare is pretty fun, I'll admit that. Hiding behind old desks and leaping over the broken chairs. We sprint and chase and grab and touch. Somehow, it turns into an aggressive make-out session.

I'm beneath him, feeling the weightlessness of his body, the thinness of his clothes. There are just a few layers between us. His face reddens, but he's still smiling. Of course he is, look at our predicament.

"You perv," I say, grinning. "It's all about the physical part when it comes to you."

"Don't hurt my feelings, Rinny. You know I love you." His golden eyes suddenly grow very wide. His voice is soft. "I loved you before I had a body, and I'll love you long after I rid myself of this one…

Rid himself of his body? No, no, I won't let him commit suicide.

"Promise me something," I say, pulling his head towards mine. "When the time comes, don't kill yourself; let me do it for you."

Pull his head even closer and then I kiss him. I shudder as his data-composed body ripples with excitement. His eyes glow, I hear the lights flicker above us. Power flows through his nervous system and into my own body. I see stars and galaxies and billowing clouds of nebulas. The black pupils engulf me in a stormy sea, and now I'm traveling through an abandoned space station. Broken wires and machines mingle with bits of stardust. I gasp for breath, realizing something, suddenly realizing something.

These stars, I'm actually seeing them. Like when I was transported to the megacorporation that time in Green Lightning. Is that a screen in front of me? This space station, is it actually floating somewhere in space? VY2 said that he could show me the stars. Is this what he meant?

I break away, breathing hard. "What was that? I was like really seeing them! How is that possible?"

VY2 smirks and shrugs his shoulders. "You know how I can use the security cameras to spy on the whole city?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"The same goes for satellites. I control them too, so I can see whatever they see."

"Amazing," I breathe. "You can actually see the stars."

VY2 rolls off me and smiles even wider. "Yep, I can see them whenever I want."

I stand up and lean against the chalkboard. After all these years, there they were, right in front of me. The stars.

Find myself wandering away from him and walking across the room. I see a glass jar sitting on an empty shelf. Weird. A few dirty coins lie at the bottom. Must have been a donations jar. I guess somebody else snatched up all the money years ago. And with every quarter they took, a dream went with it, stolen by another. Sticking my hand into it, I pick up a corroded penny and turn it over in my hand. The date is 1977, except the sevens are backward. Weird.

"What's that?" VY2 has come up behind me. He grabs the penny and holds it up to his eyes.

"It's mine," I growl, ripping it out of his hands.

"Take a chill pill, kitty. You go from kissing me to abusing me. I swear you're bipolar."

"You are such an idiot," I say, trying not to laugh. I snatch the penny back and shove it into my pocket. Suddenly, I remember something. "When we left Silver Bullet, you said you had something to show me, VY2. What is it? You've already shown me the stars…"

"I was hoping you'd remember." He smiles softly and offers me his hand. "I've wanted to show you for a long time, Rin. Not even I fully understand it, but maybe you will."

"Understand what?"

"My story."

He grabs my hand and presses his forehead against mine. What happens next, I'm not really sure. A voice explodes inside my brain, his voice. VY2's voice, the voice of a supercomputer…

"_I woke up on a cold white floor, unaware of anything and everything. Lying on my back, staring up at a blurry ceiling and at the single light that glared down at me from above. I felt the freezing tile beneath my body and against my skin._

_I blinked and sat up, shaking my head as I rose and cleared my thoughts. All around me a feral stillness edged against my mind and hung on the verge of insanity. There was an unnerving sentiment within me; I didn't like this, I didn't like this at all. As I thought this, my teeth gritted in frustration, my hands clenched into fists. My anger made my vision clear, the world around me digitizing into a recognizable image._

_Only then was I able to notice that my clothes from before were missing. My hands instantly came to my chest and they found a thin layer of white material hanging loosely on my body. My eyes followed my arms down my abdomen, and stared blankly at the blinding floor under my feet. I was dressed in a white shirt and pants. It was weird, odd and unfamiliar. Felt more like the garb of a patient than just an innocent means of clothing my vulnerable body. When I pulled it forward, its covering wrinkling in my grip, I saw numbers that appeared to be drawn on its front. A scrawled 101 was written across it, I could feel the black marker seeping onto my skin when I stopped to think about it. My dark eyes widened and I turned around as sudden confusion swept over me. _

_Just as I pivoted on my foot, the glass from the window behind me shattered, the crystalline shards clattering to the floor and scattering all around me. I covered my eyes with my arms, a stray splinter sliced into my wrist and I was not phased. Red blood trickled down my arm and onto the white earth, the shirt now stained with crimson drops of gory water. The flakes of glass collapsed into a million pieces when they fell, their screams piercing my ears. I lowered my arms and looked towards the broken window, a nonexistent breeze making the remaining glass tremble._

_My legs carried me to the edge, where I peered out into the open air and saw a person standing there surrounded by a world of white. I blinked and stared blankly at this other human being, my pupils noticing the baseball bat in her hands. It was silent for a few moments, my blood dripping onto the floor and the other girl's heavy breaths cutting through the stillness. I looked up at her through my bangs, my eyes narrowing; this was not a friend._

_All alone in God knows where, unknowing and lost, I could not afford to negotiate with this obviously deranged human being. Her eyes were spacious and bulbous, dilated pupils and bloodshot veins giving birth to a wild and absurd animal. I slowly bent down, my fingers searching for a piece of glass. My knees bent and the almost invisible sound of my bones scraping together made her lunge at me, the baseball bat striking madly at the air._

_I held my breath as she swiped at the empty space around me. She was fast, her reflex much quicker than my own. The bat grazed my cheek, and I was thrown backwards. She came at me when I was lying on the floor, dazed and bewildered. I gritted my teeth in a state of irritation, watching as her arm swung down at me._

_My incisors plunged into the arteries in her arm, the room now echoing with screams. I tasted the warm metallic blood on my tongue and squinted my eyes. The hand grasping the shard of pointed glass flew forward, impaling the girl in the neck. She shrieked, falling onto her side. She began gasping and choking, blood pouring from the gaping wound in her neck._

_She writhed on the white tile, which was quickly becoming stained with scarlet blood. She sputtered as the air escaped her lungs, her throat constricting. She squirmed like a dying fish, her eyes rolling to the back of her and her hands clawing at the ground. It was only a few seconds, but she seemed to struggle forever until she finally died and lay still. I stood up, feeling the blood on my lips and spitting it out onto the floor. _

_I glanced down at her motionless form, my eyes flat and unmoving. Survival was my first and only priority. My second was to figure out where I was, and why I was there. That had been the first thought to pass before my eyes, a single, shapeless notion that I had died and was trapped in some kind of limbo between the realms of Heaven and Hell._

_My logic got the better of me, all of those pointless ideas going white and melting without consciousness. I shook my head in order to rid myself of this eternal cycle of humanoid reasoning, my hair falling in strands across my face. The thin tendrils stuck to my damp forehead, and I started to pant as I continued to think._

_This place, it was a universe made of white. From within the confines of a little child's mind, a place where the dark machines of pain and uncertainty worked endlessly. It was a kind of madman's sanctuary, where all fears and lies lay hidden deep inside the hearts of its prisoners. I had apparently become one such prisoner, trapped amid the emptiness with nothing but white clothes and a vague set of numbers. I picked up the bat that was lying next to the girl, adding a third thing to my brief list of possessions._

_The floor moved beneath my quiet feet, the baseball bat dragging on the white tile…And then they found me, and I woke up on another cold white floor, unaware of anything and everything. Lying on my back, staring up at a blurry ceiling and at the single light that glared down at me from above…"_

"Aaaaaah!" I'm screaming, my body trying to pull away from VY2, but it can't. This vision, I want it to stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop!

"Rin!"

He grabs my face with both hands, his eyes burning. Golden fire.

"Holy crap! What, what was that? What was happening?!" I shriek, jumping away. My chest is heaving, feel like I just ran a marathon. "What…was…that?"

"One of my last memories," he says. His face is expressionless. "One of my last memories of being human."

"What?!"

"You see, I was taken away. I was a kid, maybe fourteen maybe fifteen, and they took me away. The school I attended, they said it was a special extracurricular activity…"

"What are you talking about, VY2?" I cry, pulling at my hair with my hands. "You're not making any sense!"

"I was a test subject, Rin!" he screams. "A freakin' test subject for the megacorporation!"

I lower my hands. The room is suddenly very quiet. Test subject…human…VY2…there's no way. He never said...I glare at him.

"Tell me how."

VY2 heaves a shuddering sigh and stares at me, eyes unblinking. "When the megacorporation was rising to power, they started working on a supercomputer. They wanted to make it more than sentient, more than self-aware, they wanted it to live. Robots may act human, but at the end of the day, they're still machines. They have limitations. Look at Kiyoteru, he can't feel pain, but did you know he can't feel love, either? The megacorporation wanted to literally create life, not the appearance of life, so they looked to humans and their subconscious. They went to schools, looking for proper 'candidates' and when they came to my high school, they found me. Something about me it—"

"Piqued their interest?" I mutter.

"Exactly. For some reason, I was the perfect candidate. They took me and a few other children, stuck us inside this…labyrinth of sorts, and observed. No food, no water, no resources. I wandered around that place, just trying to survive. I killed a few kids and then I was the last one. They said, "Found you," and then they took me away, for good."

"Took you away," I repeat. "They inserted your consciousness into a computer, they somehow turned your mind into a, a software program." Feel my eyes widen. "Oh my God, you're like a human spirit without a body, floating around inside a machine."

"It's like I'm in a coma, my body doesn't work my brain is still on." VY2 grabs me by the collar. "And it'll stay on forever, Rin. It will never turn off and I will always be like this!"

"But then what are you?" I ask dreamily. "Are you a human or a computer?"

His grip loosens. "Huh?"

"What are you, VY2?"

"I, uh, I-I don't…" Black pupils double in size, his body goes rigid and his lips quiver. "M-my name, it's actually Yu—"

"VY2? What is it, what's wrong?"

He's screaming, grabbing his head and screaming. Just like at Green Lightning. But somehow, it's worse. The shrieks are raw and loud. They hurt my ears, make tears fall from my eyes. I'm crying and I don't even care. VY2 falls against me and I slide down the wall. He yells and I cry, back and forth and back and forth. I hold him as his body convulses, letting him scratch and hit me.

What am I supposed to do? Push him away and flee in terror? No way, he loves me…I love him. It feels like hours. Him lying there, shrieking his head off while I cradle his body and try to stop crying. But finally he stops shaking and falls asleep in my lap. A slow fade out, like a video game screen slowly turning black.

Blink my eyes, now I'm starting to fall asleep. Seriously, how long has it been?

"Rinny…"

"Oh, VY2, you're awake."

He rubs his eyes. "What happened? I remember you showing me that penny, and then I kind of blacked out."

"Well, you showed me—wait, the penny. You don't remember anything after that?"

"Uh, no. Am I supposed to?" His voice is back to how it normally is. Naïve, innocent, how it should be. He smiles sheepishly up at me.

Wow. He honestly doesn't have a clue. That seizure or whatever it was, it must have done this to him, made him forget. Maybe they're watching right now, somehow, and they did this to him. I shake my head, trying to make sense of it all.

"No, you're not," I say quietly, stroking VY2's pastel bangs. "You're not supposed to remember a thing."

* * *

VY2 and I leave Trinity Park when the neon clocks strike three. The penny is in my pocket and my head is filled with confusion. VY2 keeps complaining about his headache.

"Oh I must have hit my head on something in that daycare," he says.

I just roll my eyes and say nothing.

The streets are crowded with people coming from the bars and coming home from work. A gang of kids are sitting on the sidewalk, laughing and talking while one of them hunches over a computer. A girl with teased hair and thick black eyeliner looks up at me. She has large, orb-like eyes and feathery eyelashes that droop down, making her look like a lost puppy. I hold her gaze for a moment, then she looks away and I keep walking. After a few minutes, I see our district looming in the distance.

The house is almost empty when we get back. Apparently, Kiyoteru has taken Rinto to the Pacifica Hotel. Akaito lives there, on the fourth or fifth floor, I think. Gumi is out clubbing and Len has mysteriously vanished, how convenient. But I don't care, VY2's with me.

* * *

"Is it so hard to lock the front door?" I ask Dell as I lean against his computer.

No reply.

"Seriously, you guys have to lock the door. You've been in the underground long enough to know that." Still nothing, so I rest my head on the monitor. My hair dangles over the screen.

"Go away, kid. I'm doing something."

I roll my eyes. Notice something, there are wires hanging from the ceiling now. Those weren't there before; neither were the wires snaking around my feet. Looking around, I realize that this room has changed a lot since Dell moved in. It's a hacker's paradise. Multicolored cables line the walls and traverse across the floor, four lime green towers sit quietly by his desk, humming softly while pulsating with emerald light. Exposed outlets are laid bare, their plastic coverings ripped from the walls.

Apple cores litter the carpet, crumpled up papers and broken pencils lay discarded, so many receipts and pieces of plastic cover the floor. Lights and colors. Stoplight reds and cyberspace yellows, and there's the violent chrome of the hardware that gleams in the fluorescents. Another color too, the transparent, almost white glow of the memory cards. These silicon chips are strewn across Dell's desk. They look like the broken wings of butterflies ripped mercilessly from the black insect bodies. I flick one with my finger.

Dell's eyes are needles. "Don't do that. I'm busy here, is it so hard to leave me alone?"

"You totally suck," I say, sticking my tongue out at him. Turn to leave, but then a thought creeps into my mind. Without turning around, I say, "What makes us human?"

Silence. Then laughter. Really? He's laughing?

"Come on! It's a serious question."

"It's just a weird question. What am I supposed to say?" He asks, running his hand though his hair.

"Oh, I don't know, that it's our ability to think, to create, anything! Just answer the question, Dell. What makes us human, is it our mind? Like, if you were just a brain inside a metal body you'd be a—"

"Robot. If I was just a brain, I'd be a robot. Happy now?"

"So you think it's our body that makes us human?" I ask, sitting atop a stack of hard drives and drawing my knees up to my chin.

Dell shakes his head and sighs "I don't know, kid. I'm not really in the mood for philosophical questions."

"Whatever."

Clearly, Dell will not be any help. Sighing, I get up and lean across his desk. Lines of code run across the computer screen. There's an empty password box blinking in the left corner.

"What network are you trying to hack into?"

"Rinto gave me the password to his WiFi connection at the megacorporation. I'm trying to use that as a kind of portal to hack into their mainframe, but this password is highly encrypted." He cracks a smile. "It's really quite clever."

I just nod my head. This kind of hacking is way above me. Usually, I just break into security cameras and webcams; I've never even attempted to hack a company's mainframe. Readjusting my weight to my left foot, I feel the coin in my pocket.

"That reminds me," I say, pulling out the penny, "I found this really rad penny in Trinity Park. Here it is."

"I'm kind of trying to hack into the megacorporation right now, don't really have time to look at pennies."

"Whatever, I'll just leave it on the desk."

It spins when it hits the table, then stops on its edge. Standing perfectly on its side.

Then I walk out and head towards the storage room. The door squeaks as it opens. This room is nice, familiar. Dozens of cardboard boxes are stacked against the walls, old pinball machines and arcade games too. Donkey Kong, Rolling Thunder, Space Invaders. There's a record player in one corner and a stack of records, some chipped or scratched. It's a cramped room too, one that makes me feel claustrophobic.

VY2 and Leon are in here, sitting on cots and playing Hungry Hungry Hippos.

"This is unfair, I can't even see my hippo," Leon says.

"So you can jump off a moving train but you can't play Hungry Hungry Hippos?"

Leon looks up when he hears my voice. "I do not find that amusing, Rin."

"He's just mad 'cause I'm beating him," VY2 sneers.

Leon scoffs and shakes his head. He leans over and grabs the bottle of champagne sitting on the concrete floor. "Well I can drink and you can't, so who's laughing now?"

"I can do whatever I want, Ray Charles. Give me that."

VY2 lunges for the champagne, but Leon pulls is back, grinning wildly. "You're not twenty one, now get back over there."

Watching them like this, laughing and talking like brothers, makes me smile. But it's weird, VY2 is acting like nothing happened. He came in here despite me pushing him to just rest. He said he felt fine, that a bump on the head is nothing to worry about. But it wasn't a bump on the head! I was there, it was horrifying. And yet, he remembers nothing. I even asked him what he was going to show me, and he just said, "The stars". That whole incident, his story, all of it was imaginary in his mind. It was real though, and I can never unlearn the truth.

VY2's voice breaks my train of thought. "You wanna play? It's really supposed to be a four player game."

"No, I've gotta jet, something I have to do. But before I go…" I kneel down on the concrete and stroke his pink hair. "You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, Rinny, I'm fine. All this concern, it's so unlike you."

"Shut up," I mutter and kiss his cheek. He smiles just as I get up to leave. That smile, it stays with me. See it in my mind's eye even as I walk down the hallway.

When I get to my room, I shut the door and turn off the lights. I need to take my mind off all this. It's too much to process.

My computer is sitting on the floor, plugged into the wall outlet, blinking rapidly. Turn on the two towers flanking the desktop, then turn on the screen and the hardware begins to roar. Darkness sweeps over me, presses against me; I shut my eyes. Hear the hardware buzzing, the air rushing through the fans, smell the burning plastic, the superheated air charged with electrons; my eyes snap open. I'm slipping into the oblivion of cyberspace. Going into hacker mode.

This is where I shine like a star, in the depths of the Internet where black hat hackers lurk and script kiddies play. Down twisted alleys and gloomy labyrinths, I search. I search. Searching for the soul of the machine, the machine within me, and my identity within the system. This system called the Wire. This is my home turf, these planes of intersecting code and digital data are my refuge. Running across the tireless roads of ever-changing information, that's what I remember. The LiveWire is nice, but the Wire is where I belong. Serious, dangerous, a place of constant surveillance. I love it. Using my own malware and worms, I can infiltrate security cameras, cell phones, almost anything.

The computer beeps, it's ready for me now. I put my headphones on, start blasting Billy Idol and Tears for Fears simultaneously, and then raise my goggles up to my eyes. They're plugged into both the outlet and the computer; need all the power I can get. Lights glow around the rims, outline my vision in a ring of fluorescent yellow. Pop-ups and boxes of information appear in my right eye. I take a deep breath and get to work.

My fingers fly across the keyboard, info comes and goes, zooming from the desktop to the goggle screen. Check my email after I finish making the root kit. The sent box is filled with emails containing the promise of free coupons and the ever-enticing 'congratulations you've just won a million dollars! Click here to claim your prize!' That's how I hook the surfacers. One look at an email like that and they throw common sense right out the window.

"KittyBlue calling R2D2," I say slowly. "R2, answer." Yes, I named my computer R2D2.

"Recognizing KittyBlue. What is your command?" It's voice is extremely robotic and primitive, sounds like a little kid talking into a voice modulator.

"How many networks have I infiltrated?"

"Three thousand and twenty six."

"Thanks, R2. You can retire."

"You are welcome. Commencing retirement."

The list of networks appears in my vision. I sort through them by name, time, address. Seven years of hacking has paid off. But it's not like I can do much with 3,026 people's information. Spending their money is sometimes fun, stealing their music and movies is pretty rad too, but there's one connection that I value over all the rest. You could take all of them away, never let me hack again, and as long as I had this one I'd be fine.

Scroll down so that the name is highlighted in gray: Kagamine, my family's connection.

Clicking it brings me to my brother's webcam. He always leaves it on, what an idiot. I haven't been on here in a while. Still, everything looks the same. Rei's laptop must be in the kitchen, I see black onyx countertops and white washed cabinets. The floor to ceiling windows look out over the Roxio District. Dark buildings and millions of neon signs glitter outside the apartment. There's a glass of water in front of the screen, condensation forming and dripping down its side.

Stack of papers, a backpack, Rei probably just got home from school. There's no sign of movement. I adjust the camera angle. There he is, laying on the couch and watching MTV. Mom's nowhere in sight, figures.

She acts more like a robot than Kiyoteru does, with cold, soulless eyes and stoic features that never change. Her irises are flat and black; at least that's how I remember them. Saw her last summer through the webcam, nothing had changed. She had the same cropped haircut, the same serious face. A shiver runs down my spine.

Rei suddenly sits up. He sighs and turns his head, the light falling across his face. He has my dad's hair. Raven black, so unlike mine and Rinto's hair. That totally messed up feeling floods my mind again. We aren't all related, there's no way. But then it all starts to make sense. Rinto could be my long lost older brother, he looks just like Rei.

What if the president of the megacorporation is his father? Then the president would be my father too. Great, now I feel like Luke Skywalker in Cloud City, freaking out 'cause my hand just got cut off and I'm staring at a half man, half machine who just told me he's my father. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Rinto isn't related to me, that's just how it is.

"Dad, are you heading out?"

I flinch at the sound of Rei's voice. It's amplified by the hyper sensitive microphones. I turn the dial on my goggles and zoom in on his face. Eyes are darting across the room, looking for my father.

"Dad?" he says again. "Dad!"

He just keeps yelling, moving from the couch to the kitchen, then out of my line of vision. I shrink the screen and check the security cameras in the rest of the apartment. There's no one in the office, no one in my room, which has been converted into a storage room, how funny. The cameras catch a glimpse of Rei moving through the halls, but that's about it.

Dad already left for work, if you could call if that. Being a cop really isn't much of a job in this city. I think about the dark sunglasses and the metal baton he used to carry on his belt. Maybe he still does, I wouldn't know, haven't seen him since I was nine.

And chances are I won't see him now. Rei's the only one in the apartment. The only one.

"Dad, where are you?"

My eyes go wide. If he's alone, then what's that sound? Pounding, someone's pounding on the door. Stupid Rei, he's too dumb and oblivious to figure it out. Poor kid. No microphone on my end, just visual feed. I can't warn him, can't tell him to run. Someone's at the door. They are going to hurt him. It's true, inevitable.

"Seriously, this isn't funny. Dad!"

"Geez, shut up, Rei." I know he can't hear me, but I can't my help it.

Guns 'N' Roses starts playing in my left ear. I hear, "You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play," and then I understand what I must do. Save Rei.

I am an animal. A city cat with dirt ground into my fur, bared fangs and claws itching to strike. Whoever is at the door is an animal too. He wants to take Rei away. Guns 'N' Roses grows louder. "You can have anything you want, but you better not take it from me."

"He's my brother," I whisper. "I haven't talked to him in five years, but he's still my brother."

Brother, my brother.

This whole thing about VY2 being human can wait. I have to save my brother.

I shut off my computer and run out of the room, grabbing my knife off the floor. Dell doesn't even look up as I dart into his room and grab a metal pipe from the trash pile.

"Going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'll be back in like an hour. Don't bother calling, my phone's dead." Just as I cross the door's threshold I add, "And tell VY2 I'm just taking a walk."

"Sure. But why do you need a pipe? Going to beat up some hobos?"

"Very funny. Just get back to work, moron."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Just wanted to thank you guys for the amazing reviews. They really make me happy :). Enjoy this chapter and please leave a review!**

* * *

Dell's menacing laughter bounces off the walls as I sprint to the front door. I never hear the door slam, I'm running too fast. The low level flashes by. Frame by frame, a moving picture show that whirls through my brain. Take a reel of film and jumble it up into a ball, then cut it up and shred it apart and try to put it back together again. A perfect description of my mind right now, my vision becoming tunnel-like and hazy.

Hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears, the sound of footsteps and heavy breathing. The violent neon lights fly past me, a train speeding on its tracks. The tunnels loom overhead. Running into their darkness, I feel like I'm running into the mouth of an ethereal beast. Spectral, black, gaping, glowering, everything. The tunnel walls are slick with slime and water. The ice above is melting and seeping through the cracks in the concrete. Something else is seeping through the cracks as well. It's thick and wet and smells like copper. The riots have begun at the surface.

Graffiti is plastered on the walls, vulgar and illegible, written in paint, chalk, blood. One image catches my eye. A face leaning over a wall, a long nose and small black eyes. Someone has written "Kilroy was here" underneath it. It would almost make me laugh if I wasn't running for Rei's life right now.

Pulling a rusted metal ladder from the ceiling, I climb up. I punch the manhole off with a gloved fist, covered with dirt and grime, blood caked under my nails and dripping down my wrist. Strands of sweat soaked hair stick to my damp forehead. Drops fall into my eyes and trail down my cheeks. Wish I had my motorcycle right now, but it's back at the house, stuck in the storage room with Leon and VY2.

Billows of mist roll through the alleyway, sickly and gray like the sky above. The Roxio District is dead quiet, fog slinking across its silvered roads and into the dark metal grates of the underworld. A single school sits in a vacant lot. Sharp, blue-gray blades of grass poke up from in between the slabs of concrete. Frost still clings to the windows of apartment buildings, dingy ice piles up in the gutters.

This place is like a giant dog kennel. There are chains wrapped around fences, hanging from the eves of houses, and so much stark metal that rubs against you and grazes your knees. Shaggy people, homeless and panting, wander up and down the sidewalks. Walking on their gnarled paws, unkempt claws dragging. A sleeping bum has tied himself to a stop sign, his few possessions strapped to his body with duct tape.

Birds nest on a stripped telephone wire, a telephone wire! This district is so ancient. It's restrictive too, feels like a cage. Even though the sky reaches up all around you, you still feel claustrophobic.

I see empty fields filled with rubble, so many trash cans overflowing with stagnant water, needles and syringes, broken glass and flimsy switchblades. This is where I found my knife, amidst the trash in a large, blue dumpster. I pulled it out of a body when I was eight.

Pretty gnarly, huh?

You think I'm kidding, that's cute.

"Meow?" A black cat just ran up beside me.

It follows me as I jet towards my old apartment. We are jaguars in a concrete jungle, tripping over hissing wires and breaking through curtains of chains. A lightning storm is beginning to shake the sky. No rain, only the flashes of forked lightning as they fry the unsuspecting clouds and cut jagged lines in the evening sky. No thunder either; it's dead quiet.

Except for a note, a note of sound that is a fish out of water here. It's at the edge of my hearing, lingering like a stranger hiding behind a lamppost, watching me.

A clarinet somewhere is playing, a dull C ringing through the district. It echoes across the alleys and off the graffiti covered walls. A stray cat wanders, following its voice into the darkness. Where does it come from? I don't know.

There, I see it, my old apartment building rising out of the ground like the sparkling black peak of a mountain. These are the Blackcomb Apartments. I lived here for the first nine years of my life, I discovered the LiveWire here, I became a hacker here. At night, when I used to lie awake with eyes wide open, VY2 would speak to me. He would whisper in my ear, sweet things, kind things. And I would know that I was not alone. Five years later and I feel the same way. Even though I can't hear him, I know he's there.

"Don't worry about me," I mutter to no one in particular.

Climbing up the fire escape now. The ladder shakes and creaks. Metal rungs rattling beneath my hands, I race up to the sixth floor, passing by windows obscured by blinds, tattered curtains and children's faces pressed up against the glass.

A girl is sitting outside her windowsill, one leg hanging over the side. She holds a cigarette between her teeth. Heavy eyelids are drooping with the weight of shadow and mascara. Tousled hair falls in front of her face; a massive bow is hidden amidst her locks. Crude lipstick, oversized shirt and skin tight pants, that's what this girl is. Her jeans are rad, I want a pair. But I can't think about that now, Rei is in danger.

The girl flashes a smile and says, "You in a hurry?"

"Yeah, kinda. You just chilling out?"

"Basically." She takes the cigarette out of her mouth and throws it to the ground. "I hope you make it in time."

"Thanks." I leave the girl to her windowsill and continue to clamber up the fire escape.

I'm at the sixth floor.

Apartment number 607, right?

Count over seven from the right and I see it. A clean window, probably the only one on this floor, and horizontal blinds that obscure the interior. Turning my head, I ram the metal pipe into the glass. The window shatters, pieces flying everywhere. Jagged slivers cut into my jeans as I scramble through.

"Don't think you can escape out the window!"

A man's voice. Probably just a random burglar, very typical in the Roxio District. A shiver runs down my spine. He must think I'm Rei.

"I've got a gun, kid!"

"I've got a knife!"

The intruder roars, comes bounding down the hallway like a stampeding elephant, then rounds the corner. I'm looking into the barrel of a rifle for half a second, then I duck and run out of the room, weaving around his hulking body and smacking him in the shin with the pipe. He roars and kicks out, sending the metal pipe flying across the room.

Here's the kitchen. Cabinets are locked, just like I remember them. Mom's so paranoid. Taking out my knife, I break off one of the locks. Bottles of olive oil are arranged in neat rows. Quickly, I grab a bottle and break it on the cabinet door. Green, viscous liquid splatters onto the floor. It seeps into the grout and spreads like a pool of blood. Intruder guy is stomping around; I hear him, so I take cover behind the wall and wait.

Heavy breathing and a glimpse of a dirty, unshaven face. Yeah, that's him.

"Aaaaah!" I scream, turning and smacking his face with the broken bottle.

He yells, I dig my knife into his arm, then kick his wrist and fly backwards, my knife free but bloody. This guy is a horrible housebreaker. It takes him an eternity to regain his senses, so I do something crazy. Something so rad and so epic that I must be mental to even think it. But still, I do it.

Climbing up on the countertop is a stupid idea. My head almost touches the ceiling and my feet slide on the slick surface. Intruder guy looks up and I see his dark blue eyes. Hmm, they're kind of pretty, but that doesn't matter now. I jump off, lunging like a cat pouncing on its prey.

He doesn't even have time to raise his gun. Broken bottle goes into his left shoulder, knife plunges deep into his jugular. My arm is wrapped around his neck, my legs wound around his abdomen. I swear I didn't even mean to stab him, it just happened. Warm blood washes over my hand. Hot and sticky, feels like paint.

Suddenly, I feel his teeth on my skin. I scream but it's too late, his teeth are sinking into my flesh. Fire races up my arm. Needles jabbing at my veins, breaking my arteries and making me grit my teeth.

"Stop!" I cry. "Stop, stop, stop!"

BANG!

Just felt a bullet go whizzing by me. The man staggers forward, a wretched sound comes from his mouth, and then he falls to the floor. I drop off his back, hitting the ground hard. Blood pools around the intruder's head; it's dark red and will probably stain the tile. Oh well.

I look down at my hand. It's ripped and bloody. His teeth did not penetrate that far into my skin, but it still hurts. My fingers twitch, my wrist shakes and my breathing in heavy. Great, now I'm gonna have to get a rabies shot.

"Rin?"

I turn around and see Rei standing behind me, holding a gun loosely in his hands.

"Rin," he says again. "You're, uh, covered in blood."

"I'm aware of that, but thanks anyways." I rise shakily to my feet, folding up my knife and sticking it in my pocket. "So, Rei, how's it going?

His eyes are blank for a moment, then they widen and the gun falls out of his hand. "How's it going!? I haven't seen you in five years and you say that? What's wrong with you?!"

"A simple hello would be nice!" Growling, I walk up to him and look up into his eyes. Whoa, since when is he taller than me? "Look, a psycho just bit my hand, how about getting me a Band-Aid?"

"You left me," he says, a wave of defeat flooding his face. "I've been all alone, and you've been doing God-knows-what. Probably living underground…"

Now my eyes widen. "Woah, where'd you hear about the underground? Most surfacers don't even know about it. "

"I read an article on the LiveWire." He looks up at me and shrugs. "And you used to talk about the low-level all the time, anyways."

"You're on the LiveWire now? Geez, kid, you're all grown up." A halfhearted laugh escapes my lips as I ruffle his hair with my clean, unbitten hand.

Before I know it, I'm hugging him, burying my head in his chest. My little brother, my little baby brother. He's twelve now, but already so old. He just had to kill a man.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I had to go."

Feel him sigh as his chest moves up and down. "Yeah, I get it."

"Don't lie, Rei."

"I'm not lying. I get why you left." He backs away and walks over to the cabinets, opening one carefully, trying not to get fingerprints on its shining surface. "Living in this apartment is like living in a refrigerator. Nobody talks to you either. Dad is always gone, and I swear Mom is actually a robot."

I stifle a laugh. "Trust me, she's not."

"Do you know any real robots?"

"I live with robots."

He looks over at me, perplexed. Eyes have become bulbous light bulbs, sucking in light and energy, his pale face transforming into a glowing metal hotplate.

"You live with robots," he repeats. "That sounds like something you would do. By the way, catch."

Something is thrown at me from behind the cabinet. I catch it with one hand. It's a plastic pill bottle. Cheap and dirty, smudges on the cap. Dozens of light blue pills are stacked on top of each other, pieces of the ocean or shards of the sky.

"What am I supposed to do with these?" I ask.

"Swallow them. They'll make your hand stop hurting."

"I don't pop pills. Sorry, Rei. Just get me a Band-Aid like I said before."

He gives me this confused look, then shrugs his shoulders and tosses me an ace bandage.

"Thanks." I let the pill bottle clatter to the floor, and then wrap up my bleeding hand, wincing as I do so. I look down at the dead burglar lying on the kitchen floor. "Now let's get rid of this body. Then I'll help you clean up the mess."

Rei nods and I walk over to the corpse that is staring blankly at the wall.

Together, we drag the man from the apartment, depositing him in the garbage chute that seems to lead to the center of the earth. I never hear him hit any kind of bottom, nothing but endless silence and darkness follows. Then we scrub the floors with soggy paper towels, laughing and reminiscing about our dismal childhood…

We used to spend our time roaming the black streets, which were always wet from the constant downpour of ice cold rain. City lights would flicker in the puddles, melding into a kaleidoscope of swirling colors, so many focusing eyes staring up at the blank void of space. And Rei and I were astronauts running down the star roads of the universe. We tried to forget the fact that we lived in a place where the stars were never seen, where the sky felt so far away, yet it still managed to grip your shoulder and hover over you with its teeth bared.

Back then, the Brink was a wild and unexplored frontier for our immature minds. The train tracks were our playground, where we would throw rocks at the silver bodies that appeared suddenly and violently from the tunnels. They were roaring space ships that burst out of the darkness, sending a cloud of spatial dust and grime into the air.

Rei and I would sit under the shade of the overpass and try and listen in on the conversations going on inside the train. I'd be there with my headphones, balancing my laptop on my knees, while he was pressed up against me, trying desperately to look at the screen. Then the train would fly past and we would listen.

"The rain is so heavy…need an umbrella…my computer broke…man, that sucks…did you hear? So-and-so was shot yesterday…two hundred dollars for a hard drive…the sky is so dark." Thousands of voices whispered and shouted, fading away as the train barreled past.

Through the dark windows of the train cars, you could see the hooded faces of a million people. People dressed in raincoats, trench coats, miniskirts, and skin tight jeans.I remember a woman I saw once, leaning against the window with a far-off look in her eyes. She was staring at something I couldn't see, her eyebrows knit in rigorous thought. Her long blue hair made her look like a lonely mermaid floating in one of the city's polluted canals. A longing gaze and a starfish tattoo on her right temple, she was so beautiful. I wanted to look like her, I still do.

But I don't, and I never will, so there's no sense in dreaming.

The tracks were a place of dreams, though, they still are. Winding through the Brink like a silver spinal cord, the tracks connect each district to one another. In the Roxio District, the pentagonal buildings rise above the tracks, corralling the people in and making the sky look a million miles away. Wires are strung across the roads, the high rise buildings glow in the distance, and everyone is trapped inside this box of shining lights and dingy streets.

A few lucky citizens live in the apartments that jet out over the tracks. Sure, the noise is horrible, like metal nails raking a metal chalkboard, but the safety those apartments entail is well worth it. There are always cops around, watching the passengers board the train, and there hasn't been a reported murder in two years. Sounds like a lovely place to live, doesn't it?

When I lived in Roxio, I remember my dad going to work down at the tracks. He would stand there with his fellow law enforcers, wrapped up in yellow raincoat, a bullet proof vest over that, and stare out from behind his sunglasses. Every roller held an assault rifle in front of his chest. Pistols were at his side, a baton was fastened to his belt, and pepper spray was hidden under his pant leg.

So many weapons in a district that was lacking in the rioting department. No, the riots did not take place in Roxio. Those happened in the Ivory and Enigma districts, where the robots demanded equality, freedom, and whatever else they wanted at the time.

The riots still take place in those districts, but nobody cares. This city is so vast that the North side is an entirely different country to those living in the South. Different people live in the Brink than in the slums; they speak in different accents and eat different food.

I've never been outside the Brink, but I hope that someday I will cross that bridge to the mainland. Someday, hopefully. Maybe not today, but maybe tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or…

"I love this district almost as much as I hate VY2," Rei says, pulling me out of my nostalgic fantasy.

"What?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "I forgot you haven't seen me in five years. I've changed a lot. My obsession with VY2, it's over now. The LiveWire has shown me so much, like how the business people use VY2 to control us. It's weird, how brainwashed I used to be."

"To some people, you were fine then and you're brainwashed now," I say, wringing the blood soaked towel into the sink. "It's a tricky world out there. I'm happy you found the truth."

"Me too, Rin."

I smile halfheartedly and watch the blood spiraling down the garbage disposal. "The truth isn't always happy though. When you walk down the street and see a creepy shadow you see it and you acknowledge it, but you walk away. But if you want to know what's really down there, you have to go and see for yourself. You can't send someone else to do it. And when you finally turn the corner and see what's making that shadow, you might now like what you find."

Rei stares at me, eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that sometimes a little ignorance is bliss. Just remember that."

"Ok, I will."

Standing up, he looks at the floor, which is now white and clean. You could never guess that a dead body was lying there a few hours ago.

Sighing, I lean against the sink and look at the white floors and the white walls. I blink in the blinding light. That's all that I see, light. It seeps into my corneas, dripping down my bangs and into my eyelashes. Cold metal rests beneath my hand, a kind of icy chill running through my body.

Rei's right, this apartment is so cold.

"I have to go," I say suddenly.

"But you just got here!"

I stare at him. "Not true. I've been here for like four hours."

Rei throws the paper towel to the ground. His eyes narrow and his mouth starts to twitch. "That doesn't make up for the past five years."

"I know, and I'm sorry. But I don't live here, I don't belong here."

"And I do?"

Those eyes, stormier than the sky itself, bore right into my soul. There's nothing to say, so I walk past him and place my hand on his shoulder.

"See ya, Rei," I mutter. And then I add something, something so quiet that I'm not even sure he hears me. "I love you."

There is silence.

"You can call me whenever you want, ok?" I tell him.

"I will." Then he looks at me with his sullen eyes. "You're a good sister. Remember that."

A smile twists my face, then fades away. My eyes look past him, staring at the massive windows at the opposite end of the apartment. Millions of lights wink back at me.

Rei is glaring at me, his body illuminated from behind. He looks like an angel. Time is caught between us for a moment. We hold it in our trembling hands. Undulating lights, silent walls, white tile, and the background hum of a computer running. His eyes look brighter than normal; mine are probably bluer than they've ever been. We know that we will never see each other again, but we say nothing. For once, silence is a good thing. Words would only pollute the atmosphere.

So I turn around, and walk back to the broken window in the other room. I climb through it, leaving Rei alone in the apartment.

Back down the fire escape, past the girl sitting on her windowsill, except she's no longer sitting there, she's lying on the steps, as if she fell. Her eyes are wide, her hair billowing around her head and tumbling down the stairs. Barely parted lips are pale and pink; soft skin the color of ivory. Mascara runs down her cheeks. I stop and stare, unable to move.

"Where have the stars gone?" she says.

"They're still up there. We just can't see them."

"If only we could. I'd give anything to see them just once." She sits up and looks at me with her heavy, shadow laden eyes, the bow flopping down in front of her face. "You know that song, the one about Major Tom flying to the moon?"

I nod. "One of my favorites."

"Doesn't Tom sound so peaceful even though he knows he's going to die? He says that he's going home, even though he's way up in space, alone. Wherever his home is, that's where I want to be."

Remembering the song, I feel a tear welling in the corner of my eye. I quickly brush it away. "Just look up at the sky, and you will be home."

She puts her head back down on the fire escape and gazes up at the infinite blackness. Footsteps echoing against the metal, I leave her to her fantasy and head down the ladder.

Hopping off the final step, my feet touch the ground. The grass is dark and wet. A shattered bottle of olive oil lies broken amongst the wilting blades. I walk over it, feeling the shards snap.

Thunder rocks the sky and a drop of water hits my head.

Major Tom is crying.

I look back up at the apartment, and for a second I think I see Rei at the window. But then I blink, and he's gone. Turning around, I start to run. I'm running back to the underground, away from the memories of a broken life at the surface, with Major Tom's anthem playing in my mind.

"Now the life commands, this is my home. I'm coming home."

* * *

I walk in on the most hilarious karaoke party I've ever seen. Leon is standing in the middle of the room, singing drunkenly into a microphone stand with a champagne bottle in his right hand.

"What is going on?" I ask, laughing.

"Leon found our record player." Kiyoteru rolls up beside me in his chair, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "Crazy blind guy." He shakes his head and offers me a Twinkie from a box that's lying in his lap.

"Thanks," I say, attempting to unwrap the package with my good hand.

Kiyoteru takes the Twinkie from my hand and opens it for me. "Where've you been? Get bit by a dog?"

"Yeah, I wish." I flex my wounded hand; it bleeds beneath the bandage. "I went to see my brother."

He raises his eyebrows. "Rei?"

"That's him. He just needed some help."

"So you went to help him, and he bit you?"

"No, idiot," I say, punching him in the shoulder. "There was a break-in."

Kiyoteru nods vigorously. "Oh, I get it. You killed some guy who was attacking you brother and, let me guess, the dead guy bit you?"

"Yeah, except he wasn't dead when he bit me."

"Well that's a relief." Kiyoteru stands up and tosses his cigarette aside. "Come on, Gumi has a bunch of Band-Aids in the back."

Leon is screaming, "Don't switch the blade on a guy in shades, oh no!" as we pass. His usually blank eyes are bright and glistening. He's laughing and smiling, and for a split second he looks at me and it's as if he can actually see me.

"Hey, Rin!" he shouts, raising the champagne bottle.

Gumi, Dell, and Rinto, who are sitting on a futon behind him, all raise their glasses to me and say, "Rin's here!"

I smile, waving as I follow Kiyoteru down the hall.

Behind me, I can hear Dell say, "Ok, I've had enough of Corey Hart. Are there any Aerosmith records in here?"

"You can't cut me off!" Leon says. "Look at you; cutting off a blind guy, you're just racist!"

"Blind people aren't their own race!"

"We are too! We're a minority, you idiot!"

I laugh, crossing over the threshold into Gumi's office.

"Give me your hand," Kiyoteru says.

He turns on the sink and lets the water wash over the bite marks, carefully scrubbing my raw and bloody skin. His hands are so rough, the ridges of his fingerprints run against my own.

But there's a gentle softness in his grasp; he knows I'm just a kid, and he can probably guess that my mind is still reeling, my nerves still tingling. I still see Rei floating in my imagination, his eyes darker than the sky. The water covers my hand, drips down to my wrist, it stings.

Kiyoteru is staring intently at the blood spiraling down the sink. His eyes reflect the dark red liquid. "Your brother was nice to you?" he asks quietly.

"Yes. He's a good kid, even if he is a little confused."

Kiyoteru turns off the sink. "The surface sounds like a confusing place. It's no wonder he's a little mixed up." He pauses. "How did you manage it?"

For a moment, I say nothing. I watch him as he wraps a bandage around my hand, slowly and deliberately. "I immersed myself in the LiveWire. It was where I found refuge. The surface, it's a weird place. So many people, yet it feels so empty. You're just a lonely gear spinning inside this giant machine, and you have no idea what your real purpose is, or if you even have one." I close my eyes, seeing the dull burning red of the fluorescents behind my eyelids. "That's what I really want, to have a purpose."

Silence, then I feel Kiyoteru's hand on my shoulder. "I think the same thing all the time. What's the point of synthetic life? Am I even real? Those thoughts run through my head about, let me think, fifty million times a day."

My eyes open slowly. "Of course you're real," I tell him. "You think and feel, just like I do."

"A VI thinks, an AI feels, but they're still virtual and artificial intelligences. Like VY2 said, a robot is just a computer that has a body." Kiyoteru leans back against the counter and sighs. "But do you want to know how I reaffirm myself of my reality?"

"Sure."

"I know I am not just a computer because I have the ability to believe in things. When I can look at something and choose to believe in it without having to run through programs or look at variables, I know that I am real." Now he closes his eyes. "It's an amazing feeling, to find yourself completely unshackled. It happens rarely, but once in a while something makes you abandon your programming all together. You have a real brain for that split second, your conscience grows inside you and you feel like you're waking up for the first time. Everything becomes blurry, as if you were floating through a dream. And there are lights all around you."

"Stars," I whisper.

"Or millions of eyes, or planets, or maybe they're just the streetlamps flickering outside the window. Whatever they are, you see them. When you decide to believe in something and have hope, you see them everywhere. The best part, you have this realization that you really are a human being, but it leaves you within a nanosecond." Water drips rhythmically from the faucet behind him. "I don't remember that feeling."

"You have nothing to believe in anymore?" I ask, flexing my hand. It doesn't hurt as much anymore.

Kiyoteru looks offended. "Of course I do, but faith doesn't keep you in a constant state of euphoria. You're not gonna be happy all the time just because you believe in something. Come on, Rin, you know that."

I cross my arms and glare at him with narrowed eyes. "Bite me, Kiyoteru, I was just asking. But I'm happy that you still have hope. It reassures me."

He cocks his head, pieces of hair falling in front of his grey eyes. "Reassures you of what?"

"That I'm still working for the right side." I'm heading towards the door now. I've had enough of this small, suffocating room with its short ceiling and encroaching walls. "Thanks for patching me up. I'll catch you later."

Kiyoteru nods, but his eyes still hold this distant look of longing.

When a star dies, breathes its last and collapses into oblivion, it longs for something, too. It must, how could it not when it lives all alone in a universe populated by billions? To be able to look out your window and see millions of other people and know that you can never talk to them, that is true loneliness. They are light years away, drifting along in their own world, and they will never see you.

Out in the hallway, I collapse against the wall, sliding down the grimy paint to the floor. Tears sting my eyes, but I'm not sure why they're there in the first place. Music floats down the corridor, notes soar like birds.

I hear the soft beats of Silent Running, but nobody is singing. Haunting lyrics pierce the tangible silence, slice my heart open, and make the tears flow freely down my face.

"Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?"

If only I could hear you, whoever you are. As if in reply, I hear footsteps in the room behind me. Kiyoteru's black combat boots appear, and his dark shadow hovers over me. A watery reflection swirls beneath him, staring up from the tile.

"Your mascara's running," he says quietly, sitting down beside me. "Makes you look more like a raccoon than a cat."

I wipe the skin beneath my eyes, looking askance at the bespectacled robot sitting next to me. "Jerk. I can't believe I was nice to you."

Leaning back against the wall, I start laughing. He laughs too, but it's a hollow sort of laugh and his eyes are hidden behind reflective glasses...can't tell what he's thinking.

"About that," he begins, "thank you. You didn't have to listen to me. When I go off on rants like that I can't seem to stop, so thanks for not falling asleep on me."

"No problem. I've made you listen to me before."

"Still, it was…nice of you." He pauses for a moment and looks down at the floor. "I'm glad you came here, Rin. Seriously, you've been a good, uh, companion."

"You mean friend?" I ask, half smiling. "It's all right; I won't tell anyone that we're friends."

He turns his head, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. "Whatever."

"Don't stress yourself out, boss. If I can be with an AI then a human and a robot can be friends after living together for five years, right?"

"I guess." His head is still turned, his feet shuffling uncomfortably across the floor. In the darkness, his hair looks blue; his eyes have become a menacing violet.

"If being friends is too much, then you can be my big brother. How's that?"

"Much better." Then he presses my head against his shoulder and tousles my hair. "You take better care of yourself, ok? No more solo missions."

"I promise," I mutter.

And my eyes start to close, my muscles relax, and suddenly I am drifting away, running down those ancient star roads with my brothers, Rei and Kiyoteru. A train speeds by my face, I see that woman looking out the window again and now I'm half asleep, listening to the fading sounds of Mike and the Mechanics.

But what about VY2? VY2…I'll talk to him tomorrow. Yeah, I'll figure it all out tomorrow…


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Twentieth chapter, hooray ^^! To commemorate this occasion, I will do a little oneshot/drabble for you, my loyal readers. Just pick a fandom (either Vocaloid or Hetalia) a genre, and a pairing if you so choose, and I'll write you a story :). Sorry for the delayed updates btw, enjoy and please review :). **

* * *

Feathers brush my cheek. Stiff and sharp, one of them perforates my skin.

Blood wells and slides down my face. I open my eyes, feeling them go wide as the blood droplet curves across my chin. Another drop slips in between my lips and an iron taste floods my mouth.

It's so quiet, can't even hear myself breathe, nothing but the sound of rustling feathers against my neck.

Hard feathers, iron feathers as sharp as needles.

The air is still, my ice blue eyes are frozen in this block of time, and a subtle wind is blowing in the distance. A salty wind that smells like ink. Where am I? Looking askance, I can finally see the bird.

It's sitting, perched on my shoulder with one giant yellow eye staring into my soul. It is made entirely of metal, with steel tipped wings and a rusty iron beak. Curving talons stretch across the papery thinness of my skin and curl up into my collar bone. More blood gushes from my body.

Why can't I move? Do I have to sit here and take this? But there's no pain, which is weird.

Just a slipping sensation as if I am an hourglass and sand is leaking through the cracks. The bird starts pecking my shoulder, then ripping the skin off my elbow, tearing chunks of meat off my neck. I'm screaming, terrified.

This numbness is just making it worse. Not feeling anything, watching the blood flow freely down my arms and legs.

There's a tugging sensation on my scalp and I realize that it's yanking out my hair. Claws grip my temples, blood pours into my eyes and I can't see. My shrieks are drowned out by a wave of crimson. A hot, sticky, crimson light that sears my eyelids, burns my throat. And still I can see that bulbous yellow eye glaring at me, a swollen moon seated in a blood red sky.

I jolt awake, gasping for breath. Frantically, I run my hands down my body, but there's nothing there. My skin is still white and smooth; my jeans aren't torn or shredded by a metal beak. But there's something wrong. Feel my hands shaking, my muscles twitching. My skull is throbbing, there's a wrench twisting the sockets of my eyes. Icicles of pain form in my arteries, freezing my blood, making me shiver.

When I brush my hair aside, I find that my forehead is covered in a layer of sweat. This is some kind of fever, it must be.

Suddenly I remember the bite I received last night. All Wozniak did was bandage it up, leaving the infection trapped within my system. Wozniak, he's not here anymore. Must have gone to his bed or something.

Whatever, it doesn't matter, my mind is too muddled to think.

"You're an idiot," I say to myself, closing my eyes and running my hand down my face.

Should have gotten a shot, a hypodermic syringe, anything. The human mouth is riddled with bacteria; I could be infected with who knows what. With ginger movements, I unwrap the bandage.

And then my eyes almost pop out of my head.

The wound is inflamed and bloody, my flesh swollen, hot and throbbing. Great, I'm going to get some blood-borne disease like hepatitis. I rise shakily to my feet and the world bends around me. Walls go swooping over my head; the floor does backflips beneath my feet. The hallway spins like a carousel, making my vision blur.

"Dell," I call out. My voice is startling, it's so weak. "Dell, can you come here?"

Taking a step forward, the floor falls away into vertigo and I fall to the floor. Wrists crack as my hands smack the tile. "Dell, are you deaf!" I scream. Look around, there's nobody here. "Where is everybody?"

So I'm on my hands and knees, chest rattling, eyes crossing. Sweat drips down my face.

I can't just stay here, gasping for breath, my body wracked by chilling spasms. Slowly, I try to stand, but not slow enough it seems. The movement makes my head spin and I'm overcome by another wave of vertigo. My feet get tangled up and topple forward, hitting my head against a doorframe. Crack! My neck snaps back and my teeth jar up into my jaw. Then my eyes go rolling back and I collapse into a pair of arms, strong arms.

"Dell," I mutter. "What took you so long?"

"I was on the roof," he says. Now I see the ladder, it seems to have materialized out of thin air.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Be quiet," he commands. "Just close your eyes, I'll take care of you." Dell picks me up and presses me against his chest. He's so powerful, there's no strain in his grasp.

Despite what he told me, I can't close my eyes. His face looks fractured through the haze. Red eyes split into a dozen different pairs, his bedraggled hair looks alive. Every step he takes is hurried. Keep walking, then a door opens and I see the concrete ceiling of the storage room. Glowing orange lamplights above me, blinking eyes, millions of fiery butterflies circling over my head.

I'm placed onto a cold, smooth surface. Sitting against a freezing wall, my head hanging down, I feel the slick ivory beneath me. Droplets of water melt into my skin. The bathtub. I hear the shower turn on, an ice cold spray hits the left side of my body, and then Dell grabs my arm and starts scrubbing.

"What's that smell?" I ask quietly.

"Povidone-iodine and soap." He pauses and shakes his head. "This is what I should have done last night instead of acting like an idiot. Stupid alcohol." He furrows his eyebrows, bites his lips and draws blood. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." My voice is so quiet, I can barely hear it. Dell says nothing.

* * *

I have no idea how long I've been sitting here, the water raining down on me. But it doesn't matter, I'm starting to feel a little bit better. Dell comes and goes, retrieving bandages and the occasional syringe from Gumi's office. He narrates what he's doing. His voice keeps me awake.

"This is a tetanus shot…and now you bandage it loosely, not like you're tying up a bunch of wires…Kiyoteru's stupider than I thought."

"He was just trying to help," I say, slightly angry.

"Like Yoda once said, 'do or do not, there is no try.' You can't argue with Yoda."

I feel my mouth curve up into a weak smile. "You said something about Star Wars when we were at Green Lightning. You like it a lot?"

Now Dell smiles. He finishes bandaging my hand and then turns off the shower, still smiling.

We are silent for a few moments, watching the individual droplets fall from the showerhead, then he says, "I do. That movie shows you the stars when you watch it. And you can't help but think how cool it would be to live in space or on another planet somewhere, away from everything."

"Where would you live?" I ask, leaning back against the tiled wall.

He thinks for a moment, dropping his eyes and running his hand through his hair. "Um, Tattoine I think."

"The desert planet? Why?"

"Because it's so different from where I live now. There's no Internet or computers or texting out there, just sand. How awesome would it be to look out you're window and see nothing for a change?"

I consider this for a second. Nothing but sand. Closing my eyes, I can almost feel the hot twin suns beating down on my face. "It would be nice, to see nothing. But there's always something here, the next big thing."

Dell sighs and climbs into the bathtub. He sits next to me, puddles of water soaking into his shoes, his face obscured by the thick steam hovering in the air. Wires hang down from the ceiling. They hiss and spit sparks at our heads.

I look up at the swinging cables that writhe like snakes. Then I blink my blue eyes. "How's breaking into the megacorporation going?"

"Good, I'm very close. Now go to sleep. It's not even morning yet."

Feel my shoulders hunch in irritation. He doesn't need to treat me like a baby. "You didn't tell me why you were on the roof."

He doesn't look at me when he says, "I was thinking about how you stopped me from jumping off."

"But I never—"

"Just go to sleep, Rin. You're still sick. Close your eyes and dream about the stars."

With a nod, I snuggle up against his shoulder and shut my heavy eyelids. This time my dreams are muddled and actually quite peaceful. I sit with Dell on one of Tattoine's towering sand dunes, we watch the twin suns set and the sunset turns into a painted ocean. VY2 and I cut through the waves with swift arms, and then we're in space and we kiss as a supernova explodes over our heads.

The dream shatters into a million pieces of beautiful light.

* * *

When I wake up, I'm lying in my bed, which is still broken on the floor, by the way. Dell is sitting in a chair, asleep. He must have carried me here and then decided to stay and watch over me.

My fever is completely gone. Take a look at my hand and the swelling has gone down. The white bandages wrapped around my palm look bright in the darkness. I get up and walk over to Dell, then poke him in the ribcage. One of his red eyes crack open.

"You didn't have to stay here all night," I say.

"I know," he replies, yawning. "What time is it?"

The alarm clock on my nightstand glows with neon light. "Six fifteen."

"No one in this house ever sleeps in, do they?" He says with a laugh. Like a cat, he arches his back, cracking his knuckles. The metal hand makes a popping sound.

"Just be happy we get to sleep at all. I spent the first nine years of my life awake at the surface."

Dell stands up and cocks his head, cracking the bones in his neck. "Funny, when I lived at the surface all I did was sleep."

"Good for you." My eyes roll to the top of my head; he's such an idiot sometimes.

"Where are you going?" he asks as I open the door.

"To take a shower." My words are clipped, a little bit angry sounding.

"Do you not remember sitting in the bathtub last night?"

"Of course I do, my clothes are still damp! But I didn't really get to enjoy that very much. Besides I want to wash my hair."

Hear his laughter as the door slams. I head down the hall to the storage room, listening to the subtle hum of a computer coming from Dell's room.

Inside, I find Leon sitting against the wall, still taking sips from his champagne bottle. He must have heard my footsteps, because he turns his pale green eyes towards me.

"How's it going?"

"Ok. Where were you last night, after the whole drunk karaoke session?" I ask him.

"Well let's see, I was out with Gumi and Rinto. Len was in his room, I guess, and Kiyoteru was here the whole time."

"Where's VY2?"

"Right there." Leon points towards the cot opposite of his and sure enough, there's VY2. All curled up in a ball, his long pink bangs covering his face.

"Try to keep him asleep. I'm gonna take a shower."

Leon just laughs and nods his head.

The tile is cold beneath my bare feet. I'm standing next to the bathtub, just about to take off my shirt, when I stop and look back at Leon. It's just an instinct, to make sure he isn't staring, but then I remember that he can't see. Still, those eyes make me nervous.

"I know you're blind, but can you turn your head the other way?"

"Yeah, yeah." He takes another swig from his bottle and looks at the door.

Breathe a sigh of relief, then I pull my shirt over my head and toss it to the floor. Once the curtain is closed and the shower is on full blast, I let the water wash over me. It's not exactly warm, but it's not freezing either. Blink the water from my eyes; clean the dirt out from underneath my nails, then lather my hair with a bar of soap.

The yellow lamp above me is dangerously close to the showerhead, so I'm not surprised when I see a few stray sparks. In about five minutes I'm out, drying my hair with a worn and tattered towel. Droplets of water are flung across the room with every turn of my head.

"Is it morning?"

My head jerks up, pieces of drenched hair falling in front of my eyes. VY2 is waking up. I sprint out of there in a matter of seconds, wrapped up in a towel.

"Don't you dare look at me!" I scream as I open the door. Laughter touches my eardrums.

Dell is back in his room, hacking into the megacorporation.

He's got a visor pulled over his head, the HUD glowing in front of his eyes. The screen moves with data. Notice that his hands are lined with electrodes; his pupils simultaneously constrict and dilate. This is some gnarly hacking. But I don't stop to stare in awe, I run straight to my room and start getting dressed.

I put on what Gumi calls my Joan Jett outfit. Tight black leather pants, black vest with a double zipper, and a silver chain-link belt that wraps around my hips. Not like I'm going to a party or anything, but I just feel like wearing this. I step into my Converse as I walk out into the hall, detangling my hair with nimble fingers.

Dell says nothing when I enter, sitting down on a broken monitor and pulling my knees up to my chin. He stares without blinking, with twin full moons for eyes. The soft and swift movement of his fingers flying across the keyboard is mesmerizing. A dull clicking sound, his fingertips pressing the buttons down.

There's a mechanical cricket somewhere in this room, hiding amongst the boxes full of bubble wrap and computer chips. Hissing electricity slides through the cables that move across the floor and hang down from the ceiling. My eyes are filled with heat lightning, I can feel it pulsating behind my skull. We sit in silence while the machines buzz like a swarm of a million wasps.

Going to touch the soles of my feet, I realize that they're wet. My toes graze the surface of the tile, there's water on the floor!

"Uh...Dell," I say. I know he can hear me, the visor doesn't cover his ears. "The floor's soaked. That isn't really safe in a room full of electronics. You could totally get shocked."

He doesn't look at me when he speaks. But his voice is quiet and clear, like a raindrop. "I know, but somebody had to clean up the mess in here."

"So what, you mopped?"

"No, I just sprayed Windex all over the floor."

"Gnarly. I was wondering what that smell was." Dell just grunts in reply, so I look at the floor. There's a penny stuck to the wet tile, shining like a wide open copper eye. The one I found at Trinity Park, with the backwards sevens.

I pick it up. "Can't believe you still have this."

"I know. Looks pretty worthless, right?" Dell replies.

"I guess. But it's kind of pretty, too. If you take it and turn it like this, so the numbers are on their side, it looks like a kneeling angel."

His fingers stop, floating over the keyboard. "What'd you say?"

"The numbers look like an angel. The one is the floor, the nine is their head, bent over, and the sevens are the wings. I don't know, but it looks pretty rad to me."

"Give it here," he snaps at me.

I shrug and toss it to him. That's when I see the image in the right hand corner of the screen. At the top of all of the computer panels, the ones that Dell installed a month ago, a picture is trapped in time.

A girl, crouching and balancing on the balls of her feet, arms draped across her legs. White skin paler than a pearl, polished and gleaming. She is a marble statue. Her wings stretch out behind her like the tail of a heavenly comet.

"The encrypted image," I mutter. Then my eyes widen and I jump off the monitor. "The password, the password! Dell, you couldn't figure it out, remember?"

"Yes, yes, yes, I remember." He's typing frantically, looking from the penny to the screen. "Here's something, an article. 'In 1977, a line of counterfeit pennies featuring backwards sevens was put into circulation by an underground group of hackers calling themselves The Magnificent Seven. Corporations were angered…blah, blah, blah…the group members mysteriously vanished in December of 1978…the reasons behind this stunt are still somewhat unknown.' The rest is useless filler, but that's basically it. I don't remember hearing about any counterfeit pennies, though. Weird."

"Me either. But who cares? We have the password now."

"We might have it," he says sternly.

I run behind his desk, leaning over his shoulder and staring, unblinking, at the screen. Lines of data run across the screen, and there's a single box floating against the lines of green. Text bar is blinking, waiting for something I cannot see. Dell's fingers spin over the keys, dancing over the Earth, two stars in orbit.

Landing, pressing the buttons, 1977.

The computer says, "Password, confirmed. Now entering primary database for—beeeeeep!"

"The heck was that?" I lean in closer.

"It can't say the megacorporation's name. Just watch."

A million, maybe two million, files appear out of cyberspace. Purchases, blueprints, employee names and identification cards, bank deposits and communications sent via the Wire.

"Don't get too excited," Dell tells me. "Most of this is useless. Who wants to watch a manager call his wife when he's got his secretary sitting on his lap? Not me." He presses a button on the keyboard. "Delete."

* * *

We sift through the data for God knows how long. One, two, three hours. The blueprints are kept in their own database, the voicemails are organized in order of importance, and the list of employees is run through a software program that Dell created. It matches the names and information to particular people, giving the elusive megacorporation workers a face.

They are no longer specters, they are people. Some of them are people we know.

"I've seen that guy, he was my homeroom teacher…the assistant manager of Echo Lake…I swear I've seen her panhandling at the corner."

We look at each other and the names of the hidden are reflected in our eyes. Green letters that spell out a name, Tone Rion, flicker deep inside Dell's pupils. She could be anyone, anywhere. Next door to us, watching from the other side of a computer screen, who knows.

"This is amazing," I say. "All of these people, they're like spies for the megacorporation."

"They aren't 'like' spies, they are spies," Dell growls. "And now that I have access to all of this data, I could probably track them, find out who they talk to, what they know."

"I could help with surveillance." He looks up at me with skeptic red eyes. "I already have thousands of channels open, Dell. Surveillance is my thing. It's the only kind of hacking I'm good at." Now he turns his head and starts typing, as if I wasn't even speaking. "Come on, I want to contribute to taking down the megacorporation somehow!"

"You're the one who's going to kill VY2. If that's not contributing, I don't know what is."

"I…uh, guess so…" My words get caught on my tongue.

Silence grabs my teeth, holds my lips shut. Feel my mind go blank, all of the excitement from before draining out from the bottom of my brain stem. Shock, like I've been doused in freezing water, seizes my spine and my hands begin to shiver. He just said that I am going to kill VY2.

Kill. VY2. Become his killer, his murderer, his executioner. And executioners do not befriend their victims at the foot of the guillotine. But wait, is VY2 my victim? No, no, no. Stop this, Rin. Funny how one offhand comment can send a person spiraling into a maddening depression.

Because it's not like this feeling is new. I've felt like this before, late at night when the house is silent and you can hear the shower dripping through the hole in the wall. What Dell said isn't a surprise, a sudden realization, so why do I feel this way? We all know what will happen in the end. VY2 will die, the city will move on. And I told him that I would be the one to do it, I made him promise that he would not kill himself. I've always known that I would be the one, right? I know this, this is nothing new. Not new, but obvious, always there. The giant elephant in the room that we all choose to ignore.

Here's a way to explain it: an octopus guards her eggs, staring out from an aquamarine crack that shimmers with the movements of her rippling body. Four months pass, the babies break out of their shells, glassy pearls swimming through the sapphire water, and then the mother dies. She knows what will happen in the end, but she watches them anyways, and lives her short life. Not eating, not sleeping.

She guards the future and then disappears into the past, but while she protects her children she does not dwell on her imminent death.

Her fate is her fate is her fate. Nothing will change. I am an octopus, unable to alter the impending future.

My future equals VY2's death. Simple as that, such a gnarly and gross future to look forward to. And I think that the only reason why this feeling hasn't driven me insane is because I am holding on to a hope. A hope that maybe I…

"Rin. Hey, pay attention."

I jump at the sound of Dell's voice. He's staring at me. Irritation seems to radiate off his body.

"Oh, uh, what?"

"I just said, 'ok, you can help with surveillance.' You need to listen."

"Fine, you don't have to preach at me. And thanks, I'll get right on it." Picking up the 1977 penny, I walk towards the door, throwing the coin up into the air.

"Good. I'll be expecting a report by tonight. Record where they go, who they call, and if they buy anything, what they buy. Someone is bound to screw up, blow their cover or something."

"And when they do, I'll be there." I give him a quick salute. "See ya, Dell."

"Later, kid."

* * *

I find Kiyoteru asleep in the front room, a power cord plugged into the back of his neck. He's charging. The dull grey irises have turned to white, his body is motionless. Somehow, he looks more metallic than usual. You can see the plates that fuse together to create his arms and shoulders, the glistening sheen of his synthetic skin, the snaking movement of the artificial blood flowing through his arteries.

The room feels so cold, icicles of loneliness forming in my veins. Lights are turned off, white tile twirls beneath my feet. A feeling of suspended reality mixed with silence impregnates the very air around me.

Click, click, beep. Kiyoteru is halfway charged. The cord starts to blink again, slowly.

There's a sudden draft at the back of my neck, then footsteps, like someone is walking on ice.

At the back of my head: "What's going on? Why does he have a cord sticking out of his head?!"

"It's sticking out of his neck, Rinto. And he's just charging, chill out." I turn around, looking into that mirror again, and see him standing there, electric blue eyes ablaze.

The lights from the computer screen make them spin like optical illusions. Layers of cobalt and aquamarine turning within the folds of a liquid clock. I cock my head to the left, he lets his fall to the right. Then mine goes to the right, his goes back to the left. We're connected at the pupils, strings of invisible fiber optics joining our minds. He follows my every move for what seems like forever.

Thirty seconds maybe, or a minute?

"What are we doing?" he asks as we blink in unison.

Ignoring him I say, "It's like looking in a mirror."

"I know. We have the same eyes, you told me that once." He takes a step to the right, I go the left.

"Rinto, do you know who your father is?"

He starts blinking uncontrollably, then his voice comes out in a choked whisper. "No."

"Ok." My eyes start blinking, too. "What's your last name?"

"It's Kagane…"

"Ok, what's your mother's maiden name?"

"Kagamine," he says.

"Just like her brother's last name," I breathe. "Her brother, my father."

Deadly silence, neon green ribbons flying across the computer screen. And there are stars twinkling above us, or they could just be lights. It doesn't matter, though. The whole universe could be swallowed up in death and destruction right now and I wouldn't notice. Because I know him, I remember Rinto Kagane. His long blonde hair, those bright blue eyes, so wide and candid when he was young.

A short kid of fifteen standing in a corner with his hands in his pockets, face cut and bleeding, dark shadows falling across his bruised nose. I remember him, looking like a lost puppy, glaring at me from behind his mother.

He had looked at me and I had offered him something from the bag I was holding in my hand. A red gummy bear.

"Kagamine is my last name. My father had one sibling, a sister who married a man named Kagane…" I breathe.

Rinto stands frozen before me. I think he just figured it out too. "The girl from the Blackcomb Apartments, that was you. My cousin." He stops breathing. A hand reaches forward and brushes my bangs out of my face. "I never saw it before. You look exactly like me."

"Or you look like me," I say quietly.

"Either way, we're the same."

"I knew that the second we met and I saw that your eyes were like mine. Is it just a coincidence that we're related?"

Rinto takes a step back and turns around. "I'm not sure."

He falls quiet and his body starts to shiver, as if he doesn't want to believe it, that I'm his cousin. Lights flash against the walls, circles of color illuminating his body from behind. Utterly alone in a sea of multicolored blinking eyes, fluorescent diamonds falling across his arms. He feels lost, I can tell by the way he clenches his fists and shakes his head.

I'm reminded of Rei. Suddenly I throw myself forward, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling him towards me.

"Be happy that I'm your cousin," I say. "Why are you upset?"

"I'm not." Pause. "I'm not. I'm just confused. Why are you hugging me?"

"It's cold, that's why. The heater must be broken again."

"That sucks."

I smile. That's my catchphrase, must be a family habit. "It really does suck. But I'll let go, and you can weather the cold alone."

"Don't be a jerk, Rin. It's just…I'm not used to people…hugging me."

"I can relate. And I promise I won't tell anyone that I hugged you. But don't push your friends away, it's not like you have the megacorporation to turn to anymore."

"You're so hilarious," Rinto mutters.

"I know. Now will you stop acting like a baby? The megacorporation sucked anyways."

"Fine."

I start to walk away, leaving Rinto to stand alone in the middle of the room. Then, "Wait."

"What?" I ask, turning around.

"Here." He offers up his hand and looks me straight in the eyes. I shake his hand slowly, staring into those bottomless blue eyes.

After a few seconds, he pulls his hand away, adjusts his tie, and walks over to the mini fridge. He pulls out a Mountain Dew, then turns towards the window and twists the blinds open. Bars of shadow and light cut across his face.

Silence. It's time for me to go.

The hallway is still dark and I don't bother to turn on the light. Gumi's office is empty, she must still be out. Leon and VY2 are in the storage room, probably eating breakfast.

Len's door is closed. The air is unmoving around the hinges, feels so lifeless. I find myself glaring at the handle, a strange sense of urgency fueling the blood that flows beneath my eyes.

The knob turns under my hand, metal cold against my skin. The fan is spinning, the A/C is running, bed is sleeping, clock is ticking, walls are creaking, pills are rolling, eyes are spinning, darkness is laughing, and Len is lying on the floor.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: I apologize for the late update and the short length of this chapter. I have some oneshots to write, and I'm currently working on what the ending of this story will be, but I wanted to give you guys something to read ^^". It's also a break from all of those massive chapters. Anyways, enjoy and please review! Reviewers get a virtual cookie, any kind they want (haha) xD. **

* * *

"Len!" I scream. He's on his side, the darkness surrounding his body as thick as tar.

Glassy orbs roll back into his brain, his skin muddy and melting into the floor beneath his cold form. His skin is the color of paper when it's burned or caught inside a printer as the ink spills out and the machine begins to smoke. Artificial veins are translucent beneath his arms and legs. I see winding highways of blood, dead and dull.

Rolling him over, I notice that his lips are burned, as are the tips of his fingers and the palms of his hands. All of these places across his broken body, they contain synthetic nerve endings. It's like he shorted himself out.

Wondrously, my hand goes to touch his face. The skin sags under my touch, sliding down the metallic skeleton that I can feel under my fingers. Body no longer functions, no more surface tension, no pneumatic air to move his joints, lift his eyes, no electric motor to turn his heart, no live wires to make him feel, nothing to create the illusion of life that he once had.

"It wasn't an illusion," I whisper.

My arms wrap around him, holding him up off the floor so that his head falls back. There's a sharp snapping sound, I jump.

What was it, suicide? Never, nobody kills themselves in the low level.

Not Len, the boy I've lived with since I was nine, the robot I once longed for, the friend who drifted farther and farther away. He always cheated on me when we were together, and I might have wished that he would be hit by a car every once in a while, but not this.

Never this.

I wouldn't wish suicide on the president of the megacorporation.

It's not until I blink that I realize I'm crying. Silent tears stream down my face. I'm looking through a foggy windshield during the heart of winter. There are sudden footsteps behind me. Snowflakes start to fall, muffling the sound. Voices shout through sheets of my invisible snow, feel the freezing wetness against my knees as I sit here. In my peripherals, I see a tiger crouching in a snow bank. Glaring at me with eyes of flame and a coat of living sun flares. It nods at me, still staring, then turns and pads away, massive paws virtually soundless.

Electronic tiger of the underground walks back into the darkness.

"Rin? Rin, what happened?"

VY2 is shaking me like crazy. Seeing his face, I gasp for breath and lose the vision of the snowy mountain peak. Shrugging, I cast my eyes to the floor.

"Not sure. Maybe he decided to leave us."

"No, that's not it." Dell is kneeling by Len, turning a pill bottle over in his hands. "There's no suicide note. Besides, this is oxycodone. He must have got it from someone. Where did he go last night?"

"With that girl, the one with the pink hair." Rinto's voice comes from behind me. He's leaning against the doorframe, blonde hair hanging in front of his eyes.

"She must have given it to him," Dell says. He throws the bottle down and runs his hand down his face. "That was so stupid, kid. Stupidest thing you've ever done."

Rinto sits down beside me. His blue supernova eyes glow fiercely behind his bangs. "Can't somebody fix him?" he asks me. "He is a robot."

"That's not how it works. People can't come back to life."

"But he's not—"

"Yes he is. Len is a person." I grit my teeth and shut my eyes. "Well, he was a person." My voice contracts.

My hands rattle against my thighs as a slow chill envelopes my body. Starts at the roots of my hair, trickling down my face and across the ridges of my spine. An ice cold egg has been cracked over my head.

More footsteps. Human hands grab the doorframe, listen to the hinges groan. "It's freezing in here, somebody die?"

"Len is dead, Leon."

Silence. "I'm sorry, Rin. Really, I am."

"Don't apologize, you didn't kill him. You found Ann dead on the floor, I found Len. We didn't cry for her, so let's not cry for him either."

All the blind assassin can whisper is, "Rin."

"Just forget it. There's nothing we can do."

"Very true," Leon says.

It's dead quiet as we all bow our heads. I pray to God that Len is with him, that heaven has a special district just for synthetics. Doesn't have to be a rich place full of mansions or anything, just a nice apartment and some nice restaurants lining those streets of gold.

"He was a good kid," Dell says suddenly. Murmurs of agreement float up into the air. Silence comes again, I can't stand it.

Standing up, I say, "I'll go wake Kiyoteru. We need to talk about what we're going to do with the body."

"There has to be a cemetery nearby," Dell says.

I just shake my head. "You've never had to deal with a dead robot before."

* * *

The junk dealer flicks ash into my face. A puff of burning smoke singes my eyelashes. I close them slowly, trying to control my anger. This man is impossible.

"I can't pay you that much. Metal's bad, nerves are fried. OD'd robots are tough to sell."

I growl through gritted teeth and turn violently away, grabbing at the roots of my hair. Standing in the middle of the black market, grungy, sweat-slicked people racing by in boots and high heels, I feel the grittiness of the low level boring into my body like maggots into a corpse. Heat rises off the street in dirty clouds, boiling over the silver grates and into the grooves and rivets in the road.

Hookers huddle in tightly woven groups and bat their mascara laden eyelashes at all who pass. Spiked heels and pointed painted toes tap against the asphalt, send up whirls of dust and trash.

A newspaper tumbles through the air and sticks to the back of one of the hooker's legs. She hardly notices it glued to her calf. I notice one of the headlines: Unraveling the Megacorporation, Former Employee Speaks Out. It's not Dell, that's for sure, wonder who it is? There are other articles, The Organic Machine: Building a Chemical Computer, Hacking at the Surface. And then there are some ads: 8bit Records, a picture of a woman dressed in leather and computer cables for Crystal Crashers clothing store, and a grubby little half inch of paper reading, Tag: the everything store!

The blonde hooker suddenly looks down as the heel of her boot cuts through the feature story. She shakes it off as if scaring away a tunnel rat, then bends down to pick up some of the shredded pieces. Paper is useful, acts as good kindling for a fire, good replacement for the regular cigarettes. She'll probably use it to pass messages to her surface friends.

It's funny, there isn't much paper at the surface, even in schools. My middle school used holographs and millimeter thin plexi-glass to teach us. Students called them holozines.

A different scene pulls me away from the blonde hooker with the rebel eyes. Kids sitting under a counter, climbing down an awning. One boy is wearing a visor that covers his right eye. He hovers over the rest of his gang, counting what looks like shotgun shells. Ammunition can get you big bucks at the black market. Gnarly children with smoke stained teeth kneel around their little ammo god, all overloaded with random gadgets and other bits of technology. A kid carries a radar gun; a redhead girl has a Taser fastened to her belt loop.

Young thieves, I used to be one.

There are so many homeless kids down here. Runaways and orphans, trouble makers and criminals, those abandoned and those sent away. Most roam in packs, others don't.

I was the one who walked alone. Always by myself, thick black eyeliner smudged under my eyes, dirty hands shoved into ripped jean pockets. And in the blackness of my visage you could see those electric blue orbs glowing against my skin, two spheres of violent, hate filled hope.

Kiyoteru had seen those eyes and taken a step back, staring at a skinny, cat-like creature with a six inch blade in her hand. And then he had taken that feral cat in, giving it a home, a family. I remember that day, the soot in the streets, the artificial sun hammering the asphalt, and the mirror.

A mirror leaning against a broken gas can in a deserted alleyway. Glittering, covered in a film of grime. Looking back at me from a separate place where the stars were blue and the buildings white. My trembling fingers had come forward to touch the glass. Shards sliced into my skin, blood slipped down my wrist. Blue skies, red blood, Kiyoteru's burning eyes behind me…

"Kid, you listening?"

"Huh?" Whirling around, I see the dealer and remember where I am.

Trying to sell Len's body.

That's what happens when a robot dies. Strong metals like platinum, titanium, and silver are scarce in the underground, only found in the skeleton of a robot. So when one dies, they are sold or stolen or turned into scrap.

Len will be sold for a mere two hundred dollars if this ratty dealer gets his way.

"Two hundred, that's my final offer," he says, sucking in a breath from his cigarette.

"Are you kidding me? I couldn't even buy a decent hard drive for that. Don't be such a cheapskate!"

"Listen, you stupid brat, I don't have time for this. You might think that your little robot friend was special but I don't. He wasn't even really alive, kid, get over it. Take the money or get out of my face."

I glare at him, breathing hard, clenching my hands into fists. Yellow teeth hold the cigarette in place as the dealer laughs. I see it. Up and down, up and down. Waggling like a dog's tail.

Taunting hazel eyes spin in laughing circles, mocking me. His pupils sting my core and draw out a mass of anger. With all of the power my muscles possess, I slap him across the face, digging my nails into his cheek and ripping out his flesh. Blood spatters my body, the front of his shirt, the bins of rusted mechanical parts that lay on the counter beside us. Ribbons of skin hang off his face.

Realization, I just scarred this man for life.

He looks at me with eyes wider and hotter than the sun, with a hellish expression written across his brow. Those pupils dilate to the size of a drug addict's and he starts to breathe heavily. I'm staring at rabid cat that just got its tail stepped on, or maybe a t-rex that just got bitten by a raptor.

We stand in silence for a few moments. He's mad. I'm just trying to pick his skin out from under my nails without moving too much. It's funny, my nails aren't even that long, how'd they manage to tear his cheek off? With my thumb under my middle finger, I flick a piece of his skin onto the concrete. It hits the ground and he lunges at me, cursing and screaming.

He knocks over the plastic tables; screws and shards of metal clatter against the sidewalk, and then he rams into me, knocking me down. My head cracks, the breath is sucked out of my lungs as I hit the concrete. I lie still for a second, dazed, brought back to life when I feel the dealer's scrawny elbow digging into my ribs.

"Real classy," I manage to choke out, "attacking a kid."

Gasp for breath. Then a fist comes out of nowhere, heading towards my face. Stifled scream, now I'm rolling out from under him. His hand strikes the ground and he yells out. People turn their heads; the hookers give a wary glance through their eyelashes. Children rush to see a dealer and a hacker girl fighting in the dust.

They cry, "Get 'em! Poke his eyes out!"

Kids better be careful what they say, I might actually do it.

The dealer lunges at me, I kick back. We weave through table legs, knocking over boxes of produce, sending up a shower of wood shavings and splinters. Two animals scuffling in a rotten alley, that's what we are.

He is hanging onto my ankle while I lay on my back, squirming. I try to roll away again and feel something pop in my foot.

"Aah! Let go of me!" Kicking him away, I reach my arms around my head and poise my hands against the concrete, then push off the ground and backflip onto my feet.

I stumble away, wiping the blood from my face. Before me is a crowd of people. Streetwalkers, children and random lowlife. They stare blankly at me. I probably look like a wreck.

One of the gang kids shouts, "Behind you!" And I whip around in confusion.

The dealer is running towards me. With a rebel yell, I roundhouse kick his temple and he falls, hitting his head against a fire hydrant. A shuddering breath and he's out cold. The dealer doesn't move again.

So with their entertainment gone, the crowd disperses, whispering like a thousand voices coming over the radio.

They slip back into the shadows and melt into the city.

I am alone. Again.

But the children are still here. Their wide, dead eyes examine my every move. My body, hunched over, hands grasping at my bruised ribs. I force myself to stand upright and shake it off.

Still, they stare.

They won't talk to me just yet, they're waiting for something. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out a quarter and show it to the boy wearing the visor. Neon green eyes wander over the coin in my hand.

"Got a minute?" I ask.

All of the other children look to visor boy. He walks forward, pushing his hair out of his face. "Sure, can I have the quarter?"

Flick, and then it goes flying through the air and he swipes it up with his grubby little fingers. He turns it over, rubs it, bites it, just to make sure it's real, I guess. Then he pockets it and waves his friends over, saying, "She's for real. Go help her out."

In an explosion of chatter they swarm me, those smudged faces no longer vacant, but beaming. They make me sit back down on the curb and start showing me their wares. Bits of food, candy, Band-Aids for my fingers.

One girl falls onto the asphalt and opens a backpack, showing me a collection of brass knuckles and rings that will "help you out in your next fight!"

"Yeah you were so great," a blue haired boy says to me. "I hate that dealer; he's always really mean to us. Think he's dead?"

"He's alive, idiot," a girl with violet eyes snaps. "Look at his chest, it's moving."

"So? You can still move if you're dead, I think. When I lost my finger it was still wiggling around even when it wasn't attached to my hand."

Violet eyes growls dramatically and stomps her feet. "That's totally different. You can't move if you're dead, duh!"

Blue hair and violet eyes start arguing, tossing empty shotgun shells at each other and kicking dust into the air. Makes me laugh.

I end up buying a few bandages from the street gang for a dollar twenty five, a Three Musketeer bar for fifty cents, and an apple for two dollars. Dell will like this. When the kids finally leave, the boy with the visor gives a solemn nod and disappears into the darkness. I watch him go, feeling the shadows tug at my feet like a receding midnight tide.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Okay, it's been a month...I apologize ^^". This story is still alive, it's just moving along really slowly haha. Hope you guys like it, please review.**

* * *

The markets become more crowded as the day goes on. Like the Whitesnake song, I walk along the lonely street of dreams. I left the dealer lying next to the fire hydrant, his pockets picked clean. The dollar bills are stuffed into my right shoe. Their presence shoots a spear of paranoia up my spine. Carrying a ticking bomb into an oblivious throng of people is just as terrifying as carrying money in the underground. Dark green paper wrinkles against my sock and screeches out, sheet metal rubbing a serrated knife.

To me the sound is deafening, as if the whole city can hear the money and see it hiding under my foot. But there's nobody here. My gait is hurried and yet, somehow very slow. A twisted ankle makes me bob up and down like a cork in olive oil.

Kiyoteru is around here somewhere. My eyes had darkened and looked away as I told him to leave me alone, let me deal with selling Len's body. He had just shrugged and walked into the city swarm, yelling, "I'll meet you at Plugpoint!"

Plugpoint glows with a kind of supernatural bioluminescence. Green light floods the sidewalk and beats the side of my face. Stacked up in the window display are about a dozen televisions, square and black with pixelated screens. Shards of broken glass lie sparkling on the ground, glittering gems of the low-level that crunch under my wavering feet. I sit down on the cold concrete with my back against the window. The TVs turn on behind me; Cyndi Lauper's voice comes trickling through the fractured glass, singing about how girls just wanna have fun.

Stupid song. If I turn around, I can see her dancing through the streets with a parade of fun loving girls behind her. Smiling faces, laughter, poufy dresses and overprotective parents, this video has everything I don't.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Rin," I say quietly.

There is no answer, just the hollow scream of a hundred subway trains flying above me. A few minutes later, a shower of gravel comes raining down. The world becomes grayer the longer I sit here. Static seeps off the television screens and covers my head like a hood. There's this buzzing sound that digs into my ear canal, too, one that reminds me of a million wasps boring into my brain.

Dark purple bruises blossom on my ribcage and my foot begins to swell. But there's no pain, just a fleeting numbness that settles into my veins. Time crawls by on tired feet. As I sit here, I think. How unfair this all is, how unlucky. Luck has never favored me though, it has despised me, loathed me and my electric blue eyes. A distorted smile materializes on my face as I think this, my bloody hands running down my face. Laughter seeps through my mouth, my shoulders shaking violently with suppressed amusement. I am falling and drowning in this gray world, my feet dangling over the edge of insanity.

What kind of a world is this? I think to myself.

A messed up one, a very messed up one. Such a crazy and intolerable place this is, the worst game ever made that cannot be deleted, or erased, or destroyed, or forgotten, ever. Do not press delete, do not press enter. If you do, all of this is for nothing.

Why did Len have to die? His death means nothing, does nothing. He was an arrogant robot, a cruel friend, but why did he have to go? How many more have to die, how far should we go in order to save the city, if that's even what we are doing?

My mind speaks: how far should you walk?

How far can you walk, Rin?

Far enough to find the truth. So keep walking, make this resistance a reality. Instigate the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning for those voices inside your head. Your ears are ringing so loudly, don't stop, don't stop. Faster and faster. What is happening? Your heart is pounding, Rin Kagamine, louder than you could ever imagine. My fingers entangle themselves in my blonde hair, the nails burrowing deep into my scalp.

The warm blood flows down my forehead. I remember all of the faces I have missed so recently, my father, my brother, the girl sitting on the fire escape, my clinically cold mother, and now Len. Everyone is leaving me. Through a torrent of tears, I whimper, "I don't want to be alone."

"You're not."

I jump like a wounded animal. Looking up, I see VY2 standing above me. Those yellow eyes that glow within his face, they vibrate inside his skull. His gaze is as intense as the rays of a supernova, piercing my flesh and making my sputtering heart explode. The boy in front of me is that mixture of chemicals, that concoction of inhuman elements that are fed into my blood stream as if through a syringe. Instead of wires and tubes buried deep inside my wrist, his hand is there; I can feel his pulse every time he moves.

A machine that beeps, one beep for every heartbeat, is implanted into the flesh below my elbow. Dark green lines move and shudder, falling into valleys and then rising into mountainous spikes. I recognize that green line from somewhere. It recalls a memory from the back rooms of my brain, one of eminent fear and destruction, one of a girl lying in an operating tank, with a dozen doctors crowding around her.

The time they took me to the hospital.

My teacher had told my parents that I was a crazy, blaspheming, criminal who believed in a god other than VY2. So they took me to the hospital…I was strapped to a table, placed in a tank…And then the masked men tortured me and I was left all alone in that tank, an octopus drowning in its own blood and misery…

"Rin! Rin, stop crying."

All at once, I am ripped from that operating room and thrown back into the slums of the underground. Someone is gripping my shoulders and shaking me violently. I see yellow eyes shining and sending up sparks.

"Get away!" I scream, striking out with my right hand. Blood splatters.

"Aaah! Geez, Rin. You ripped my face open."

"VY2?" My eyes are suddenly opened as reality hits me in the stomach, knocking the breath from my lungs. I look at him holding his cheek while blood slides down his chin.

"I…I didn't mean to. Really I didn't, I was just confused. VY2?"

"I'm ok. Don't get excited, kitty."

"Is it bad?"

"I told you, don't get excited. Really, it's fine."

I can't fully see his face, just a blur of white, yellow, and crimson. Then I hear raindrops popping against the sidewalk. But it can't rain under the earth. It's the sound of blood dripping onto the broken concrete slabs that are riddled with rivers of tar and weeds.

That sound is enough to drive me over the edge. I collapse against VY2's chest, screaming, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Feel his arms wrap around me as I cry into his red leather jacket. Tears rush down my face, carving channels in my cheeks. Everything I have felt comes pouring out of my hollow eyes and I cry harder than I ever have before. VY2 holds me close, just how God holds the universe in his hands. Stars twinkle within the depths of his eyes; I see them through by tear-slicked eyelashes, drops of water clinging to every frame of life.

It's like a picture from a movie, my face buried within the soaking wet folds of his jacket, pale white hands clasping my body, vice-like, and the pressing darkness coming in on every side. Midnight creeps against us like the body of a cat. I don't know how long it lasts, but when the sobs finally subside and the world looks clear again, I look up at VY2, breathing hard.

"Sorry."

"Never tell me you're sorry," he says, wiping the tears from under my eyes. His fingers come away black. "You could shoot me in the back and I wouldn't ask for an apology. You could leave me here in this alley or turn me over to the megacorporation, and I would never want you to even utter the word. You're everything to me, Rin. You are metaphorically, and literally, my source of life. Without you, I'd die."

"But that's what you want."

"Not that again," he growls. Suddenly, he grabs me by the shoulders and jerks me around. "Listen to me. I don't want to die; I want you to kill me. There's a difference. So enough. You made me a promise, are you going to break it?"

I stare into those pitiless eyes and then shake my head. "No, I don't break my promises."

"Good. I trust you, Rinny. Now let's go back."

He pulls me to my feet, holding tight to my hands. "You get any money for Len?" he asks, picking a stray string off his jacket.

Moving my toes, I can feel the bills rustling against my skin. "Yeah, about five hundred dollars."

VY2's eyes widen. "Five hundred? You must really know how to barter."

"I guess you could say that." My left foot kicks out, sends a Diet Coke can flying across the vacant street. "What happened to Kiyoteru?"

"He's at Silver Bullet. He said that he waited at Plugpoint for you for like two hours, but you never showed. So he came home and sent me out to find you."

"I was wandering around the city for two hours?"

He shrugs. "I guess. But you're found now, so let's go back."

We walk beside each other, artificial light from the sun lamp falling around us like a veil of sand. There are specters hiding in the tenement halls, watching us from their darkened windows. A pair of eyes follows my every move, and then I realize that it's just the sign sitting above the River Crab Restaurant, the sign with those slow moving, dull blue eyes that go back and forth, observing the world below it.


End file.
